A YEAR OF WAR—A RETROSPECT.

New Zealander, Volume XVII, Issue 1551, 27 February 1861, Page 5

A YEAR OF WAR—A RETROSPECT.

[From the "Auckland Wevkly Register, - ’ Feb. 25.] “ The heather is on tire!” In three days., from the date of our present issue, we shall have passed through the first year of a second New Zealand war ; —and what a year of difficulty disaster, and disgrace, have we not suffered? Leaving it to “ vigorous V prosecution” and “ peace at-any-price” men to determine the justice or injustice of the war — eschewing even an opinion of its prudence or its policy, let us take a few random observations of its conduct and their results. Before, however, entering upon this part of the question we are bound to record our firm and deliberate conviction that to the relaxation of the Arms Ordinance by the existing Now Zealand Government; to the facility thereby rendered to the enormous acquisition by the Natives of arms, ammunition, and all sorts of warlike stores ; and to the simultaneous withdrawal, by the Imperial Government, of the 58th regiment without any relieving corps, and the powerless reduction of the Military establishment of this Colony, in the teeth of the remonstrances urged by all who were privileged and competent to raise an objection, much, if not most, of the present wide spread and still extending insurrection is mainly attributable. After twelve months conflict with the Maori, what have wo achieved? Are we one step nearer the solution of this war question than when, on the 2Stli of February, 1860, Colonel Gold and his “ gallant three hundred” set sail from the Manukau in the full and confident belief that in less than six weeks they would return in triumph to winter quarters? Far be it from us to rip up the sad details of opportunities presented to and lost by Colonel Gold-—of lives sacrificed—of support withheld—and of enthusiasm extinguished. These arc matters of history here ; and they are also matters that must yet be searchingly investigated elsewhere. Well! we have been relieved of Colonel Gold ; but have we been bettered by his successor? Has the war been since prosecuted in a more determined spirit or to a more determinate or conclusive result? Have three thousand accomplished what five hundred failed to do? Have the butchered of Pukatakuerc—ene of General Pratt’s proclaimed missions—been avenged? Has the retreat from Gie peach grove been wiped away? And after a spring and summer now nearly spent, bjts any one substantial advantage been obtained to compensate the loss of gallant officers and soldiers weeded away in the most distressing and dispiriting manner? With each arrival front New Plymouth, men’s hearts are in their mouths, because they have been taught to an-tic-pate nought but evil to their friends and fellow countrymen, only carried into spasmodic action, and never yet permitted to consummate any promising success —for when the advance ought to be triumphantly sounded, aud “ Britons” shown how to “ strike home,” the retire is falteringly heard—dispatches are penned to acquaint us with what lias been left undone, and the Maori, instead of being followed up blow upon blow, is suffered to recover wind aud heart, to choose fresh positions and with his inferior arras and wooden bullets, to setour Eufields, artillery, shot, shells, rockets, and all the improvements •of modern military science at defiance. Strike a balance of profit and loss, and we shall find against certain advanced redoubts in the valley of the Waitara, the town of New Plymouth closely beleaguered, its suburban homesteads and farms in ruins, and the province itself almost wiped from out the category of New Zealand settlements. And why should this be so? From our own Australia—from England—and from India we have had considerable reinforcements of able subordinate officers and good and gallant soldiers, willing, nay earnest, to accomplish all that brave men can. We have it from an undoubted source, that these, as they have arrived at Taranaki have been astounded at the inaction they witnessed ; but, what then? they are constrained to do as those before them have been made to do, they swell the numbers without augmenting the strength of the British array, for, to quote a phrase unhappily becoming too familiar to the colonists, they speedily get General-ised We have been Instructed by the Governor, through the medium of a Government Gazette, that disaffection is on the spread ; and William Thompson, in a letter to the Chairman of the Waikato Committee, confirms the assurance, inasmuch as he tells him in no measured terms, almost in the language of Rob Roy, that “ the heather is on fire, ajrest the blaze who can.” There are surely means to beat it out, were energy and determination brought to bear upon it. But they are not. And what is worse, there Is an ugly whisper abroad that the Commander of the Forces entertains conscientious scruples concerning the righteousness of the war. We heartily hope that the rumour is a groundless one, but we perceive it has reached the Editor of the Southern Cross, as well as ourselves. Of what use will be more men fi om England for whom the Colonists have so earnestly prayed if they be not bravely led aud vigorously employed in extinguishing a rebellion which daily becomes stronger and which, if not speedily suppressed, will be sure to end in a war of races. The people of England imagine they have done great things—and we give them every credit for it—by sending a regiment from India, and a battery of Armstrong guns and a company of Artillery from Woolwich As far as this goes, the reinforcement will be a most seasonable one, but it is altogether incommensurate with the end sought to be attained. It is on the “ little war” scale so forcibly deprecated by the late Duke of Wellington. England is as yet unable to realise the character or the necessities of a Maori war. She has been taught to regard the conflict as a mere emeute of a half armed, disorderly body of semi savages, which a small force of her magnificently armed and equipt soldiery she deems sufficient to put down. This was precisely the same mistake into which the first originators of this unhappy strife fell. And what has been the answer up to this hour?— This;-—that these indifferently armed Maories have for twelve mouths set the might and majesty of England at successful defiance—that they at this moment beleaguer an English garrisoned town ; and that whilst we have made no sensible impression upon them, they have, under the very eyes of our commanders and with perfect impunity to themselves, carried off an immense quantity of plunder, robbed, burnt, and destroyed at their pleasure, and, as we have already said, virtually blotted Taranaki from the list of New Zealand provinces. The Maori is a very different foe from either the Sepoys or the Chinese to cope with —warlike, brave, and skilful —a first-rate tactician, an admirable strategist, and an intuitive engineer; he is an antagonist that requires a strong arm and a shrewd head to deal with. Men’s eyes, now that the China difficulty is

settled, are turning towards that quarter in the hope of aid. We but express the opinion of competent authorities when we say that by such aid the revolt would be most expeditiously, mercifully, and economically quelled—a war of races prevented—the Queen’s supremacy established—and New Zealand placed upon so secure and prosperous a footing as would preclude the possibility of any future outbreak.