The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1864.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 300, 28 October 1864, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1864.

iSPECTKMUR AGENDO. " (Jive every rnan thine ear, but few thy voico: Take each inan'fi censure, but reserve thy judgment. This abovo all, —To thine owru-olt bo tr\io; And it must follow, hh tho night the day, Tliou canst not tlieu bo false to iuiy man."

Just as it would seem by tho altered tone o!' the Times, and I)}' other signs, that there was to be something like energy infused into this New Zealand war, comes the peace proclamation of Sir George Grey, and the inaction which has characterised the period of (he last five mouths must at any rate be continued for two months longer. A considerable number of troops are oil their way to 2s ow Zealand; but it is not by sending more soldiers, but by using the force that is now here, that tlie insurrection is to be put down. If an army of 10,01 X) British troops, supplemented by four colonial lvginicnts, and rendered available for active service by the assistance of a sutlicient number of colonial volunteers and militia to hold in safety the centres of population, cannot copc with the enemy, then, indeed, i may we ask, What has become of the name, the honor, and the courage of Englishmen in this war,' ' II with this iorce in the country the only resource left is to condone murder, to beseech those who choose to take the oath of allegiance to do so either with or without (lie surrender of their arms —if this be all that the legions of Britain can effeel, then indeed, may the question be asked, " What has become of the name, the honor, and I lie courage of En"lishmen in this war?" Wo must' look, however, for another solution to this ditiieultv. and it will be found in the anomalous position of our enemy. He is both friend and foe. We try to kill him without injuring him. We destroy his cultivations, and then supply him with Hour and potatoes from our own stores. We follow him up from pah to pah with artillery and men, and at the same time allow any number of the race, friends or foes as the case may be, to roam about our eity and settlements, watch our movements, and obtain supplies. We threaten him. if obstinately rebellious, to confiscate his land, and at the same time bold out a prospect that if he continues in his resistance the Imperial authority may be induced to forbid any .such extreme measure ; and finally, having' harrassed him through the .summer months, and driven him to the verge of starvation, we sit quietly down, during the winter and spring, until lie has had sufficient time to cultivate'and plant a lar"c enough breadth of land to maintain him durin" the next year's campaign; anil, as if .such opportunity were not sufficient, we supply hj'm with seed' potatoes, as at Taurawica, and with llcmr and other provisions. To cap all we find Sir George Grey in his opening .speech to the Assembly in November liStfl, thus speaking » ] " rely with confidence on your cordial support " in my endeavours to carry on the present war " with vigour, and to make it, ifpossible, the last hich shall afflict the European and abori'dna 1 " inhabitants of New Zealand. To do thi"— to " provide a material guarantee for the preservation of peace—such measures will be necessary

" as will. render fnture insurrections of the " natives hopeless." Having obtained the co-opcration of tlio Assembly in providing these measures, and having duly sanctioned and approved them, wo find His Excellency in Oct. IBG4, olloring any and evci-y rebel a freepardoSi, with llic full permission to retain his nHtis, so as to be in a (it position to rocomti.tcnee the warns soon as they may see it iVtvouruble opportunity 1 for —as his Kxev>H'eivey him self expressed it in another pUVi of the simio spce'eh,—the indiscrilVi'aie slaughter 'of i 1 ic Kuropean inhabitants of the Colony," atul fur which purposes, says his Kxeel'loueY, the Waika to tribes "have for some time past been endeavouring to form a jjeiK'iiil combination." The cause of this st'.Yic of things is easily tobe discerned. A large army is sent well provided and r.ninitioncd into the field, but it is commanded not by the General nominally at its head, but by a Governor whose sympathies arc with the enemy, and whoso. mission is a peace policy burlesqued, wh'rch, carried out in its full, is simply.(lie toleration of lawlessness and barlmri sin!. Tn c war is made neither an Imperial nor a Colonial one. The two Governments, against which the Maori is lighting. ari> quarrelling and bickering with one another, and bpth'beconie thereby lowered in the. eyes of tlie Natives and counted worthy l ''only of contempt. This unfortunitti; position has been brought about 'by 'th'o conduct of a single individual, usihg'as iiis means a studied and persistent misrepresentation of the feelings of the colonists and of the Natives. Whatever may liave been the motive there are none but can see the result. We are reaping the fruit, of this co-existent double policy among us in a protracted war thai; is at the present moment, exhaust ing the tin'a'n'cJes of the colony and retarding tlu; "development of. its resources both North 'an'd youth. : rt. is IX) the nn.vliVig of the General Assembly that, we erm .'done look for an end to this s'tnt'o of things. Hritain must unmistakefl'biy be .shown On* position in which she stands. If she intends to take the whole mruier of the disposal of the troops inlo hor own hands, and to leave the question of how much land shall be coniiscated to the Governor and the General, then she must clearly understand that the Colony will pay nothing towards the expenses of (he War. ami should tlie emergency be never Ijo gvea'l will not furnish a singlemilitianiiiit or volunteer. If, on the other hand, the policy of the Assembly.: already recognised and approved in Mr. Canlweir.-> despatch of the 2(>th .April, is to be earned out. then the Colony will have neither the will not' the excuse to back ote: of a fair proportion of the liabilities'of the cost, of the war -but, it: is unreasonable to expect tlwit if Kngland choose toinake what might be a very simple; and easily settled adaira longandprotracted and expensive undertaking, the Colon}'should also bo involved in the consequences of so ruinous a course. When the Cmi/cr/>nr>/ J'rc.is is found advocating the expediency of our lighting the Alaoris as the earlv-American settlei tbllght, the Red Indians, : it will be seen to what ibis imbecility and vacillation of the Imperial Government inus't inevitably leail. Already the opinion is fust gaining ground that, the Natives will never be overcome until British troops have been entirely withdrawn and the settlers have taken the matter into their own hands. The Press, after alluding to the miserable conduct of the war, the want of dash and energy, as far as it. has at present, gone, says : —" Lei any tif our readers read the "" account of the conduct, of the American colonists in their early wars with the Indians, mid " compare it with the tone of the New Zealand " colonists for the past two or three years. The " one 110 more thought of-appealing to Kngland " than they thought, of Hying. T1 ic great race " whose leaders went into the forest to lav the foundations of a new empire, and who had ever •' before their e}-es the grandeur of their task. " well knew that they must look to themselves ■" alone for success. .And so in those early struggles the national character was moulded " and tempered for the independence it was one " day to win. Here the idea of iigl iting our " own battles has been the last thought which " seems to have occurred to us." The .Press. | however, forgets, in reprobating the New Zenland colonists, that they have never been allowed to act. He forgets that the settlers in the North are even now compelled to sit quicth' by and see their property destroyed—their cattle slain, and to know that the lives of their women and children are held on sufferance of the will of armed savages, who prowl by day and night from house to house unhindered, nay, protected, bv the Governor. Would the early American settler have rested quietly under such a state of things-' The crack of his ride has answered thequestion over and over again, and has iinaliy settled the matter. It is a slur upon the manhood of the settlers of the Northern Island to taunt them with the charge that the}'have devoted .themselves the one to his farm, the other to his merchandise, and looked to Kngland to send soldiers to fight their battles, and to Knglish tax-payers to bear the cost. It is in obedience to the will of (ho British Government, that the settlers of this island have refrained from taking the settlement of the matter into their own hands, and Britain, therefore, is (lie more bound herself to do that in her own way, which, out of regard for her, we, as yet. refrain from doing in our s. 11. will happen, however, if she but, half do her duty, thai the forbearance will lie no longer exercised by the colonists of the Northern Island, and that, they will prove themselves to be as well able to cope with the 31 ao ris in New Zealand as ever were the early settlers of America to defend themselves from the wily treaeherv of the Jicd Indian.