The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1864.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 167, 26 May 1864, Page 3

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND, THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1864.

SPECTKMUR AGENDO. " <-ivc evorv man thino ear, hut few thy volco: T;#Vo o:«oh man's rondure, hut resorvo thy judgment. Th\< sihovo all. —To rhino ownself bo truo; Aii'l it must fallow, as the ni;jht the day, Thou ojinst not ilu-n he tHlso to any man."

Tin: " memorandum" forwarded to Earl Cli idlest or by the Colonial Secretary, as a replv to the petition addressed by certain members of the Aborigines Protection Society to the Governor, is an able and statesmanlike product ion. and calculated to drive awav a great deal of mist that lias hitherto shrouded the New Zealand ouestion in England. Tt gives a very clear ami succinct account of tho real nature of the case as between tho Maori and the English ; and completelv cuts the ground from under the feet of those who signed the petition, and others holding similar opinions. And now those gentlemen have a clear statement of tho matter placed before them by the Responsible Ministers of the Colony, we trust that they will see the folly of their proceedings, and learn not to judge rashly, and condemn hastily, 011 \ erv partial and imperfect knowledge.

Tlic memorandum clearly saows. what we have over ami over aim in stated in tlu- pages of this journal, that the present war wasnot of our seeking. It found us in a state of unproparedness ; whereas events have shown that the Maoris must Ions; have been preparing for the struggle, and lor carrying out their declared and clearly expressed intention of driving the Pnkeha. into tlic sea. It was not Hie white man that raised the cry of extermination of the Maori: it was the laiier that took for his watchword, extermination of the white man. The case lies, therefore, in a nutshell. "Were we to sit down with our arms folded and i|uietlv submit to be slaughtered wholesale r Tlic murdering in cold blood of isolated settlers, in the exposed districts, were not isolated acts, standing by themselves. and having 110 connection with future movements and designs: these acts were simply the prelude to the dreadful and terrible tragedy that Maori actors intended to plnv. Submission to the Maori, or evacuation of at least the Northern Island, were the only alternatives placed before us. Both ofthese were utterly out of the question on every account. The evacuation, or the being driven out of the Island, meant a surrender to the Maori of the land that had already been honorably purchased from them, and for which thev had received payment ; together with the improvements made ; the buildings erected: the crops and stock raised; —in fact, all that had cost so much labor, anxiety, and money to realise. The greatest and most ardent lover of peace would hardly counsel us to act thus. Nothing remained, then, for us but to defend our lives and property, and if possible at the same time to teach the Maori the follv and wickedness of his attempt to murder us and our families, and to confiscate our property. This could only be done by opposing to him a power that would inevitably crush him if he continued to resist it : and by the infliction of such a chastisement that would prevent his dreaming even of ever again making such an attempt as the present" in the future. To leave it a matter of doubt between two civilized nat ions even, which is the strongest, is to leave a ready door open for constant quarrels. But to leave ifc a matter of doubt as to which is the most powerful between civilized people, on the one side, and a race emerging from barbarism, on the other—a race, 100. fond of fighting for its own sake, and with nothing in reality to lose if it lose not its lands —is not only to leave a wide door open for future quarrels, but to put a very strong temptation in the way of the •savage, bv exciting at the same time his cupidity and his love of war, two of the strongest passions that influence and move him. "History," it has been observed, " is philosophy leaching by example," Turn to one page only of history, that which records the deadly struggle between Napoleon and the English at the early part of the present century. "What kept the peace of Europe from 151,3 to the Crimean "War, and made England feared and dreaded throughout that continent, but the tremendous power displayed by her in her opposition to the ambitious designs of Napoleon. That power gathered into full strength at the battle of Waterloo, and with irresistible force bore down and scattered the opposing host of Napoleon's velerans, and made both the French ruler and the French people feel that they were 110 real match for the despised nul ion of shopkeepers. Does any one believe that {['"Waterloohad been a doubtful victory, or a drawn battle, the devastating wars that had so Jong desolated Europe and drained it of its best: blood would have been ended. No, it was the crushing and overwhelming defeat of the French arms 011 those blood stained fields, and the vigorous manner in which the victory was followed up by pursuit, and by, se'/.ing Paiis, that won well nigh halfa century of peace for Europe. jVnd the same page of history also gives us an illustration of the manner in which "material guaruutcctj" were secured by thoeo

to whom 1 "ranee had opposed herself. In addition to keeping 1 HO,OOO men of the allied armies as an army of occupation in Franco i'or iive years, she was condemned to pay no less a sum than £61,500,000 as indemnity for the expenses oftlie war, and to pay for her spoliations during the continuance of the war. In the name of common sense we would ask wherein does our case diit'er in its broad and genera] principles from the illustration we have used. Anil why then should not the applied, and as history has proved the successful, method in the one case, lieapplied, with variations as tonecessary details in the other. History repeats itself in general and broadly defined features. We must conquer, thoroughly conquer the Maori, not simply according to our ideas of such a process, but according to his own ideas of conquest; and when that is done, peace will be restored. But to make that peace lasting he must be made to pay a heavy price for it, and he will then value it. (live him a cheaply bought peace, and yon give him that which he will care very little about retaining. Directly it is got, he will be undeterred by the lessons of the past from rushing into war again at any moment when impelled thereto bv whim, caprice, or revenge. And as we cannot make him pay for the peace he lias so wantonly broken in money, we must make him pay for it in land, of which he has more than abundance. This method of payment, has, in the case of the Maori, a special advantage. It is no innovation. but tlie carrying out of a long, well known, and established custom, (hat, has been known, acted upon, and recognised for ages. And is therefore a mode thoroughly comprehended by them in all its bearings. And to argue that the whole race will go into open rebellion because some of them are severely punished for rebelling, is puerile on the face of it. is contradicted by the very etlect it has had in the North, Hawke's Hay, and other districts, where the fear of losing their land keeps many from rebellion and gives the natives much greater credit for simplicity than thev would think Mattel ing to their knowledge oftlie value of property. Depend upon it the Maori is a better rcasoner than such conduct would indicate. Heat the rebel Maori thoroughly according to his notion of the process; punish him in the way which he accounts as a real heavy punishment ; and those who have retrained ironi plunging into rebellion will hesitate verv long before they will openly oppose us, or sutler themselves to be drawn into the vortex of the whirlpool of rebellion and endanger all that they so highly value, and which they so clearly see, will, in the end, be most certainly taken from them. The onlv wise course to pursue is that which the memorandum clearly points out. and which we have more than once indicated. The war must be made as sharp, short, and decisive as possible. The punishment inflicted on rebels may be great and painful; but it will have most of the characteristics of real mercy to the whole of the Maori race, if it is carried on so as to deter them from future rebellion against the power and authority of the Queen of New Zealand.