TEMPUS OMNIA REVELAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 144, 29 April 1864, Page 4

TEMPUS OMNIA REVELAT.

To : : ' Editor of the Nr.w Zi:.\;..\ni> lleiui.ii,

Sik, — ermit me on the part of myself and comrades of the yth JJegiment to tender you our sincere thanks >r the generous and impartial manner in which on have so opportunely endeavoured to disabuse the minds of the public of any predjudiee which uiiuht have been created by the unwarrantable attack v.liich vourco-temporary, the Daihj Southern C'/YMxh.: ;i»de upon the h : thcrt.>>;ntaruisiicd reputation of 10th Kcgiment: and further permit, .me to trespass .lyion your valuable spae" while [ adduce a few plain undeniable facts in reputation of the calumniatory .datcmonls which appeared in the '>dihj floitlhen- Cross of the fith, and 7th, and in the Weekly Xews oth of this month. I am fully aware that the luiirfel have adopted, is, for a soldier an unusual one, and' that L might, have resigned to abler pons than mine the task of vindicating the character of the 10th liegiment, but, sir, a charge of no ordinary kind has been brought, against us, —a charge which would, if it were corroborated by a shadow of truth, entail everlasting disgrace upon the regiment, and, therefore, knowing as I do, the entire falsity and malevolence of the charge, and being determined in common with every individual in the Regiment to maintain the unsullied reputation which our predecessors committed to our guardianship, I have decided on the only course likely to dispel the injurious effects of those slanderous imputations which have been published in the columns nt the Cross, viz: by an earnest appeal to that mighty tribunal—public

opinion. Let us first examine the precise nature of the charge which h:!S been brought against one of the most distinguished regiments of the British imny— against a regiment which has rendered fhitht'ul anil almost priceless services to the colonists and which ■has sufl'ered more casualties in their defence than any other regiment in New Zealand. The Southern Cross of the (>th contains the following statements. " At 'JlO crisis of their fate they burst from the Pa on the western Side, traversed the ground covered by the head-quarter companies of the 10th Regiment, under the command of Colonel Leslie, and made good their retreat into a swamp beyond." And then after passing an encomium oil the courage displayed liy the natives, it goes on to say. " We would rather not follow up this remark by what we are likewise bound to say —that the conduct of the troops that allowed them to escape through their lines in broad daylight is not deserving of praise. Wo withold censure until wo can ascertain the full details of the transaction which snatched a crowning victory from the hands of the gallant officer commanding and turned it into a humiliating defeat. e say this much reluctantly, but when we look at the plan which is before us andseo the positions thetroops occupied,it is not possible to do otherwise than we have done." And again further on :—"lt was about midway in the western face of the redoubt that the natives escaped, dashing through the lines of the 40th. There may he soino satisfactory explanation of this result but at present it is inexpliable except upon one hypothesis." And again in the ll'cckhi juries of the !)th, he says as follows :—" About 4 o'clock in the afternoon (Saturday) and of course in broad daylight, when the sap had been carried to within two yards of the ditch, when musketry and hand grenades had been poured into the place, the Maoris slipped out into the scrub, passed over a piece of land that had been entrusted to the keeping of the 40th Kegiment, and got a good way oil' before a ' pursuit was commenced. They must have been as much astonished to find themselves getting clear as was (General Cameron when he saw thorn running across tile open and the 10th who shouli.l have been guarding tliis way, nowhere. That regiment it is said

were in a rond cut out of- an embankment, and the ■Aram-is jumped over their heads and into tho .swamp, bavins''it is said wounded some of the 40tli as a som-enir." And finally in tho same paper. '1 he natives leaped over tho heads of the 40th Regiment under Colonel Leslie and ma do good their retreat into the adjoining swamp." This is certainly very explicit and tho obvious intention of the author is to damage tho reputation of the 40tU Regiment. by ehar"ing tho officers and men with eowardieo in having, as tho sapient editor has it, allowed tiie natives to escape. , ~ But who shall escape reprehension from the cvnical editor!" None! Government, Army, Native Oflice, Law, Missionaries, Superintendents, Postal \rthovit.ies, Canterbury J'rrss, — Herald —all have incurred bis editorial acrimonv, and suffered from the furious, fulminations of this New Zwutand Diogenes. There are, however, n tew diserepnnries in the charges to which I have nllu<lo<l and on these T .shall oiler n few remarks ere T proceed to a discussion of the causes bv which the officers and men-of the 40th ■Regiment were prevented from effectimllv arresting the escape ofthe desperate garrison ot Orakau. In the Xmtthern Crotx of the Oth it is st'ited that, the natives ncele their escape on tho western side, though his veracious "own correspondent.' affirms that they escaped from tho south side in a southerly direction. A little further on the accurate editor says that the natives traversed the ground covered bv the head-ouarter companies ol' the -1 Oth Kegiment under Colonel Leslie,—th-n, that the natives were allowed to escape thrmtsh its lines, and "gain in the U'rrMif Xfi's— it is twice stated that they jumped over the leads of the 4 oth liegiment, although it is also stated in almost the same breaf h that, the 10th were—nowhere. Tlie editor appeal's to have been in a blissful state of uncertainty as to how the natives did actually escape, and notwithstanding the preeminent advantages be possessed in _ the wonderful plan he knew iust as little of the positions which the troops occupied at the time when the natives made their escape from the pa. as did his "own correspondent." Tf the natives dashed through the lines ofthe Kith, it must be patent to anyone but the editor ofthe Cross, that the 40tli must have boon somewhere, and, again if they dashed through our ranks how eo lid they have jumped over our beads? "What un.-iit the" word regiment mean according to the ah, reasoning of thi.'. gentleman ? A lew sentries posret: at a distance of twenty yards from each other, with no support within one hundered and fifty \'ards of them. What may be understood by the expression lines of the 40th 'r,—an unguarded space of some fifty vards from which the troopshad been thrown back upon cover to allow the guns to open fire'r The editor ot the Daihj Southern Cross can afford to make abortive attempts at being witty oil the subject of fighting, insomuch as be can do"so in perfect safety, at a distance of one hundred and ffty miles from the " Front,,' lint his little joke in reference to what ho terms the snurcnir which' the 40th received from the retreating natives is ill-timed and misplaced, beeauso one brave fellow of that reetinicnt was killed, and several others severely wounded in a determined attempt at declining that same soitrriiir. T can nssure that valiant editor that had he been one of that: party he would probably have been more anxious to decline the soiietnir than wen; the unfortunate victims of bis calumny, and ,n(ht assuredlv be would have- wished him.-elf safe back again in his sanctum in Auckland. Now what autliori'iv or foundation had the Cross for the grave accusal which lie has brought against my regiment ? He had received a .communication from his "own correspondent," in which it was stated that; "About 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon the rebels made their escape on" the soii/h side in a southerly direction, and very suddenly. Hy some means they pmsrd the 40th lines without receiving any apparent resistance." . . Now there is a strange fact in connection with this most worthy correspondent's method ot collecting information'of the important movements and events which occur at the Front, and that is, that although his verv respectable person is well known to the officers and men ofthe different regiment sen gaged in the affair at Orakau, not one single individual can testify to having observed his presence oil the field during the progress of tho seige, and all enquiries on the subject have failed to prove that the prudent correspondent condescended to honor us with his presence on the field until appearances had assumed a more peaceable and less dangerous aspect, or, in plain Knglish, until the fighting was at an end. The valiant, correspondent may be a staunch teetotaler for anything T know to the contrarv,— although I have frequently observed sundry, capacious, suspicious looking tin canteens dangling and jingling at his sturdv sides—but appearances are .-oitairily against such a supposition, ot the person from whom he derived the materials for his interesting '• particulars" must have been a sorry fellow indeed. The letter headed Orakau, l'riilay'moriiing 11 o'clock, contains the interesting communication that. ' Terms of peace have been proposed but rejected "The rebels say they will fight ' Ake: ake! like!' (for ever, ever)." Strange to say these same tenns of peace were not proposed until noon on the day following that, oil which that communication was dated. Again in the next equally tru-tworthv piece of information headed "evacuation of Orakau." Te Awamutu, Saturday morning 4 o clock, he says, " tho six jmmiders were playing on the pa at twenty yards distance, with grape.' Although ordv one gun ever opened on the pa trom that range, the others being, throughout, in position at a distance of I.KI yards from il. The corre.-pondent inu.-t have been i'n a deplorable state of forget fulness, or he is a prophet, tor he relates at 11 a.m. on i' riday morning, what actually took at noon on Saturday anil again w! latreallv occurred at «p. in.on Saturday the same morning, in his communication (luted April -Ith, ho savs. "It would he impossible, however, for a nonubiquitous eye-witness to i;ive a thin; of the instances of devotion to duty, and spirit stirring scenes which occurred thoiiL r h<>ut the i'iiir:i2'''inent, until the <i<spafchrx if re pxhllshnl by order in the Gazette xperifyutf/ tin- rtirdar opcrtr/inh *of vmh hwlij troops a bare i-'irralion of events iuu-'t. be accepted. A cry true

}fr. Con*spon.lent. And although our po-.;: discernment CHIT testify to the diliieulty or impossibility of a i>on-ul>i(p:itous Y-ye-witness's giving a minute description of all the events which occurred on the fic.d, it, in palpably certain that all individual who never approached 'to within sight or hearing of the battle Held, who ivas ill short as the Cross puts it w,where, would find it utterly impossible to furnish any account at all without depending' on the information of some person who witnessed the engagement. As to (lie part in reference to the despatches,—they hurt- been published in the Gazette, and tlley hove specified the particular operations of cueh hmbj of troops, and in reference to the escape of tile natives irom Orakau, Brigadier General Carey's despatch specifics as follows:—" The pa was then carried, the enemy effecting their escape from tho opposite side of the work, dashed through a spaec from wbich the troops had been thrown back under cover to enable the gun to open." Anil yet in spite of this the Southern Cross audits correspondent dare to assert that the enemy escaped on the side and orer the i/rounil irhieh should have been covered by the. -!under Col. J.cstie, A slight acpiaintunee with military regulation will he suilieient to convince the Cross and its veracious co--respondent that a soldier's duty is to oliey, and that a Colonel in command of a regiment is asmuch subject to this lirst duty of a soldier," and fundamental basis of military discipline, as the meanest soldier under his command.

If lirigadier General Carey ordered the 40th regt. to fall back under cover tliev were bound to obey that order without questioning its prudence and therefore they were not responsible tor the j-afe guarding of the agp which was lett unguarded by their withdrawal. It is a matter of the utmost importance to the Kith regiment that their character should he vindicated in the eyes of the public, and that the slanderous imputations which appeared in the .Southern C'rons should, be disproved, so that not even a breath of dishonour should rest ori the eheraeter of liritain's deienders. Heaven knows the soldier's condition is riot a very enviable one. In peace he is reviled and insulted by the ignorant and vulgar, while even the enlightened and wealthy are sometimes accustomed to treat him as an outcast or a more animated machine, only lit to be " food for powder." Granted that this is in some measure the fault, of a few reckless blackguards who arc to bo found in every regiment in tho .British armv, vet how can yon expert tho soldier to respect himself when ho sees himself despised hy even his own countrymen. Tho impartial colonists of New Zealand must surely know that, it any remissness or worse, if cowardice is chargcahle to tho -10th regt., no ono would he likely to require a more vigorous examination into tho truth or ialsity of that charge, than would Lieut.-General Cameron. "But General Cameron says in his despatch to Sir Georgo Grey til lit " Brigadier-General Carey speaks highly of tho conduct and gallantry of all the officers and men engaged both of regular and colonial forces who appeared to have vied with eacli othur in the zealous discharge of their duty." Strange that, the fii>t- intimation of any hlnmo heiug attached to Mil* 10th regt., should have tirst reached us through the columns <»f the JMift/ &ot<t/tern C'ro,n.v. The cool audacity of both Kditor and Correspondent