A SOLDIER'S VIEW OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

New Zealander, Volume XXI, Issue 2252, 18 October 1864, Page 5

A SOLDIER'S VIEW OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

A field officer, writing to the Times says : —" The telegram containing the account of fresh severe losses sustained by our troops in New Zealand will be read bv every trvte man with grief and indignation—with grief at the continued sacrifice of valuable lives, and* with indignation that our best blood should be wasted to satisfy the cupidity and gratify the ambition of a sot of men who care nothing for the honour of our name, and still less for the higher considerations of public morality and justice. A feeling of unmitigated disgust is beginning to be felt in the army at the way in which they are being used in this reckless and unrighteous war ; and the public are beginning to discover it is not impossible that the Maoris

have more to complain of against us than we have against them. To-day I received a letter from an old comrade as gallant and accomplished a gentleman as ever -held the Queen's commission ; and to-d»y I read tho intimation of his death. His letter was written in the high spirits a soldier should have when going out to meet the enemy, and rejoicing at the prospect of proving his- devotion to his country in the fourth war in . which he had been engaged in her behalf ; . but at the same time, in this as in his other letters he denounced the selfish reckless feelings of the colonists who have dragged their mother country into this war that they may inherit the •poils of it. His view may have been wrong. I hope, for the sake, of our name, that they were so ; but it is time we should arouse ourselves and do justice. Let inquiry be made and none will be more rejoiced than lif the New Zealand Government can. show that their hands are clean. They are public servants ; let them prove to the public that they have not abused the powers entrusted to them. Let them hear what a soldier said of them, who only echoed the thoughts of' his com rades, and proved by the sacrifice of his life that it was from no personal motive he spoke. He writes about certain Ministers-who —

''for the sake of patronage, the extension and glorification of the Auckland provinces, and their own glorification and advantage in particular, are trying to push on the troops as much as possible. These Aucklanders are making heaps of money by our being here, and they want the troops, to get hold of 6ome gold districts in possession, of the natives, so as to turn Auckland into, a second Melbourne and so eclipse Otago, its rival, and utterly crush Wellington, the- other aspirant to the capitalshipof New Zealand. They really hope for an extinction of the Maori race, and, instead of trying to see openings, of peace, shut them all up when they appear.' " Sir, I have neither sufficient knowledge nor the ability to enter into the phases of New Zealand politics ; ; hut if our troop 3 are to bo employed in that; country, it is our duty to see that they are not, under the pretext of self-de-fence and of protecting the settlers, enabling robbery and injustice to be done. It is no secret that the Maories have ceased to have confidence in the Government of New Zealand. They know that they cannot get justice

be their cause ever so just ; that the colonists are thirsting for their blood as the most speedy way of obtaining the lands which they covet ; that it is we who are the aggressors, while they are fighting for life or death; and that it is better for them to stake everything in an almost hopeless, effort for victory than to allow themselves to be extinguished gradually and certainly. Can it be wondered at that our soldiers look with apathy and disgust on such a war, and, respecting the Maories as a brave enemy almost hate the idea of overcoming them for the advantage of their sordid opponents ? During the last ten years the armies of England have hardly ceased fighting. We have seen thousands of our comrades fall,, and almost every family has lost a son or a brother ; yet none of us would shrink from meeting the best battalions in Europe were the word given to do so: But every tiue-hearted soldier abhors to be made an instrument of cruelty and injustice, and feels that every life sacrificed in New Zealand is a drop of blood from England's heart, that stains .instead of purifying her."

A Frankfort Loctkry Trick.—An affair which looks very much like a trick, was. exposed at tho Marlborough-street Police Court on the 6th. Mr. Makins, barrister, stated that recently the widow of a Lieuteuant Colonel had died in Gloucester-terrace Hyde park. Shortly after her death was announced, a letter was received: froui Frankfort, enclosing six shares in en Austrian lottery, for which a remittance of' £5 was asked. The

letter was written so as to convey the impression that the deceased had ordered the shares. Inquiries were made, and then it was stated in a letter from Frankfort that deceased had given the order for the shares to a traveller employed by the parties writing-. Mr. Makins stated that at the very time when the order was alleged to have been. given, the poor lady was bedridden. Fearful Occurence.—On Tuesday the sth a party of young persons went to Powerscourt Waterfall for. a picnic. One of the party, named Benjon. ascended the rocky precipice at one side of the waterfall to the height of 150 feat. A number of persons who were in the field beneath warned him. of the danger he - was running, and called on him to come down from his perilous position. When trying to come down, he slipped from the ledge of a rock, and was

dashed in his fall against each projection of the precipice.. But a scene more terrible awaited the spectators, as the unfortunate man fell on the spikes of the iron railings which are erected to prevent persons attempting a rash adventure, such as that made by Mr Benson. He was impaled on the spikes, which penetrated through his thighs, tearing the muscles from the bones. As he • hung with his headydown, Mr. J. H. Coopsr and Mr. J. Wilson ran to his assistance aud sustained him till Mr. J. H. Lemon came to their aid and lifted him off the iron spike heads. He was conveyed in a dying state to Euaiskerry, little or no hope is entertained of his. recovery.—Fresmmi's Journal. Murders in Rome.—The environs of Rome continue to-be very unsafe. On the 21st ultimo three carters coming towards Rome by the Via Salara, were assaulted by robbers,at Castel

GiubileO) about five miles from the city. The poor carters endeavoured to defend themselves, but two*were killed, andthe other badly wounded in the struggle which ensued. The marauders made off with the little money they fouud on the carters and have not as yet been discovered They are said to have been ten in. number. On the very same evening Signor Ricciotti, chief of one of the police departments in Rome, was returning home, when he-was attacked by an assassin and stabbed in the side. The wound is not considered to be mortal. The new Roman Catholic church of St.

John's which has lately been [built in Great Ormond-street, Queen-square, London, at the expense of Sir George Bowyer, M. P., was opened with a solemn, service by Cardinal Wiseman. The new church is 76 feet long by 26 broad, the height is about 40 feet; and a cupola 37 feet high, beneath which the high altar is placed, surmounts the ceiling. There are two side altars and a screened gallery for the nuns of an hospital, with which the church is in immediate connection. The details of the structure are rich, and the emblematic decorations throughout are those of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, in which Sir George Bowyer holds the grade of a Knight Hospitaller. ' Notes and Queries ' has explained an English proverb, or rather Irish proverb, which wanted anexplanatiou. It appears that the story of the "Kilkenny cats" had its foundation in an atrocious act of cruelty. A regiment of Hessians quartered in the town in 1803 used to tie two cats by the tails, hang them across a clo-thes-line heads downwards, and watch them tearing each other to death. Tho officers prohibited the amusement, which however, conti - nued till one day the officer of the day arrived a little too suddenly. Unable to untie the cats, a soldier cut off their tails, and when they were discovered explained that two cats had fought so desperately that nothing was left but their tails. [This explanation, to use another proverb, may satisfy the marines, but it won't do for the .sailors 1 ] On June 21, the convict George Bryce suffered the extreme penalty of the law for murder on the 16th of April last, of Jeannie Seaton at the village of Ratho, about eight miles from Edinburgh. Bryce had been courting a servant in the house of Mr. Todd, and it seems that the murdered woman who was also a servant in the same house had made some remarks of a disparaging nature respecting him to his sweetheart. This coming to the knowledge of Bryce, he meditated upon revenge of the most extreme character. On the 18th of April, Bryce entered a room in Mr Tod's house where the girl Seaton was, and, seizing her by the throat, attempted to strangle her. She escaped from his clutches and ran out of the house in the direction of a distillery, pursued by hiin.» He overtook her at the door of the building and pulling out a razor from his pocket cut her throat from ear to ear, in such a shocking manner that

death was instantaneous . The murderer immediately ran away, but was pursued, and on been captured attempted to commit suicide by cutting his own throat. At his tiial lie was found guilty and sentenced to death although recommended to mercy by the jury " on account of his low mental organisation." But the recommendation proved of no avail. From 15,000 to 20,000 spectators were assembled in front of the drop to witness the execution. The

unhappy man mounted the scaffold with a firm step and died without a struggle. He had passed the night in prayer and had acknowledged the justice of his sentence. When and what Mutton is in Prime Condition foe the Table.—Dr. Doran, the well-known author, in his "Table Traits," writes :—" They who are half as particular about mutton as Quixote Bowles was about pork, would do well to remember, that sheep continue improving as long as their teeth remain sound, which is usually six years ; and that, at all events up to this time, the older the mutton, the finer the flavor. A spayed ewe, kept five years before she is fattened, is superior to any wether mutton. Dr. Paris, however, states that wether mutton is in perfection at five years old, and ewe mutton at two years old ; but he acknowledges that the older is the more digestible. It is the glory of one locality, famous for its sheep, that the rot was never known to be caught upon the South Downs. It is further said, that a marsh, occasionally overflowed with salt water, was never known to rot sheep. A curious fact is stated by Young, in his * Survey of Sussex ;' namely, that Lord Egremont haJ, in his park, three large flocks of the Hereford, South-Down, and Dishley breeds ; and that these three flocks kept themselves perfectly distinct, although each had as much opportunity of mixing with the others as they had with themselves." Mr. T. P. Cooke has left by will £2OOO to the master, deputy, and wardens of the Royal Dramatic College for giving a prize for the beat drama on a nautical or national subject, to bo called "T.P.Cooke's, Nautical or National Prize.