THE GATE PAH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 276, 30 September 1864, Page 6

THE GATE PAH.

"We refrained from republishing from tlie United Service Gazette an article of n truly infamcus and insulting character levelled at the military reputation of our estimable Commander-in-Chief, Sir Duncan Cameron, nor should we have referred to the subject but that the article in question has—and we think with infinite bad taste —been published yesterday by a local cotemporary. At the time when the disastrous action of the Gate Pa occurred, we defended the gallant 43rd from the imputation of cowardice cast upon them by the same journal which now republishes, without contradiction or explanation, the unjust argument of a military paper, which has throughout the war shown a strong bias against General Cameron. "We showed then, as we shall again show now, that the discomfiture of the troops arose from no want of forethought on the part of the Commander, from no cowardice on the part of the men, but from one of those sudden panics which arise at times, aggravated by the loss of their officers, and the consequent want of motive power to drive the machinery of the ranks. The writer in the United Service Gazelle writes in ignorance when he accuses the General of having assaulted the position before a practicable breach had been effected. It was not in entering the pah that the r out took place, neither was it occasioned by the complicated interior arrangements of the pah. Our men were already in possession ; the greater part of the enemy had evacuated it under cover of the smoke, and those who remained, in what was little more than a ditch, might have been easily bayonetted where they

were. At this moment, however, the late garrison'foiled in their attempt to escape by the GSth,' rushed back into the pall; aery arose among the troops that strong Maori reinforcements had arrived, for it; was not known that tho Nativo garrison had left it and had returned, and then the panic became general. What General could have foreseen this ? Never was a stronghold more completely given into the hands of his men by any commander than was the " Gate pah" of 'Taurauga 011 this memorable day. Never was a stronghold more gallantly charged and won by British troops tlian on this occasion, ci-cn though won to be lost again almost immediately by a sudden, and, to the troops within the" pah, inexplicable movement of tho garrison, of whose escape tliey were not then aware, and whom, on their return, when driven back by the GSth, tliey believed to bo an army of reinforcement, not knowing but that the few Maoris remaining in the pah was the full garrison.

Thus, then, this particular charge against General Cameron falls to the ground. He ordered 110 111011 to storm an impracl icabli breach, as the event; proved, for they cleared it in a gallant charge, and fell, not in entering the pall, but in leaving it. Blame attaclies to neither men nor General. The latter placed the pah in tho hands of his men. The latter took it, but, acting on the sudden impulse which has seized brave men ot all countries and ages in particular moments ot confusion and embarrassment, and misapprehending the circumstances ot their position, commenced a retreat, where, had they stood their ground, they might easily have maintained it. They were not aware that their new assailants were the garrison that had evacuated the pah unknown to them, and very naturally took them for a reinforcement, and, believing themselves to be surrounded, proceeded to cut their way out, instead of to keep out the returning Maoris.

The United Service Gazette, ill another article, of the 23rd of July, which we give in another column, calls for a courtmartial to examine into tho action of Sir Duncan Cameron, generally, in his conduct of the war, declaring him " to be utterly unfit for the chief command in such a war." If court-martial or rather, examination be called for, it is not on the conduct of General Cameron that it is needed, but.on that of Governor Sir George Grey. How could any general carry 011 a war as successfully as it might have been carried on, if his actions were hampered by the measures of his superior, not only without but within the Colony. The United Service Gazette knows nothing of the difficulties against which the General has had to contend. It is not simply tlie Maoris, but the Maoris, the Governor, the pcacc-at-any-priee party, and the Native Oflice, against which he has been fighting. AVhen he conquered one position, lie had to lay by ; instead of following up his conquest', he had to do battle with the Governor as to whether the war should he carried further, or to wait and sec what would be the result of the letters addressed to the Governor liy the rebels, relative to '-terms"- —the Maori word for " terms" would have been better rendered by the plain English " breathing time" —he had too to wait the transport of commissariat stores —and he had, moreover, t he damnifying fact to contend against, that his plans, matured in Auckland and discussed at the Executive table, were too often as well known in the rebel camp as at the table at which they were deliberated upon. He had to tight with an enemy who drew regular supplies from Auckland, who was allowed free ingress and egress amongst us, and who kept a regularly organised bod)" of Maori spies in the purlieus of tho Nativo Oflice itself. He had not only black rebels but white traitors arrayed against: him—and who shall wonder if with such odds the progress of the war was no more speedy than that of which the United Service Gazette complains. It is Sir George Grey, we maintain, to whose measures must be laidthe length, the expense, and the continuance of tho struggle, and it the Homo Government is desirous of bringing this war to a speedy termination —of regaining the respect and confidence of the Natives,- —and of restoring prosperity to the European settlers, their first; act must be the recal of a Governor who hits forfeited the esteem and respect of the people of either race, and whose continuance in olliee, as ! Governor of New Zealand, is looked upon by a very large majority of both peoples as tho greatest evil under which the Colony has ever laboured. Had Sir George Grey had the welfare of the Colony at heart, 110 would have co-operated cordially with a Ministry which none knew better than himself represented fully and thoroughly, 011 the question of the war, the expressed wishes of the Assembly, and the feelings of the settlers of New Zealand. Had he done this instead of thwarting them at every turn, we should not now be reading the insolent personal attacks of the English press and English statesmen upon the innocent, long-suf-fering, persecuted sett lers of New Zealand. AYe are accused of getting into difficulties and Hying to tho mother country for succour. AVe have never done anything of (he kind. The difficulty is of the mother country's own making, and we have jiberally assisted her with men and money. All we require now is to be left to settle our own affairs in our own way. We arc quite willing to accept England's proposed plan of non-interference as regards troops and credit, but we look for the principle being fairly carried out, and England will not we believe, refuse to withdraw from political interference ill matters with which real] v she has no concern. We do not think that Britain would cuter into a struggle even with so small a dependency as New Zealand to coerce us into the acceptance of measures against which the wishes and feelings of the people revolt. We do not; believe that while she grudges a small army to subdue Native rebellion, she would willingly incur the expense and odium of employing a larger one in coercing the European population of tiiis island into a semblance of loyalty. Yv'e believe that when the settlers of 2\'ew Zealand show uninistakea'iiy their determination to employ every legal means in their power to enforce their rights, England wiii consult her own. dignity, and tho co:::inati sense view of justice entertained by other nations, by yielding to the wishes of the colonists. If she will insist 011 retaining in New Zealand an unwelcome lieutenant its her Representative—then the people of this Colony must at once through their representatives refuse to pay one farthing towards tho cost; of the military or naval rbrc-es elie may choose to send here—

to vote one sixpence for any Native purposes whatever.

If this does not show the fixed will and determination of the colonists plainly enough, the Home Government may then suspend the Constitution and keep a standing army of 10,000 men in New Zealand. Well! even then we should make something out of the Commissariat expenditure!— Sept. 23.