The New zealand Herald. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, DEC. 10, 1864.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 337, 10 December 1864, Page 4

The New zealand Herald.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, DEC. 10, 1864.

BPECTEMUR AUiSNDO. " Give erery mm thine ear, but few thy Toice: Take e&cii man's censure, but resorve tliy judgment. This above all, —To thine ownself be true; And it must follow, as the night tho day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

The great public meeting of yesterday was as successful as wc had anticipated it would be. Some two thousand persons were gathered befor e the old Court House, in Queen-street, and the ovoral resolutions which will be found in out report were put to the meeting, and carried unanimously. Owing to the fall of rain which took place at noon, the time for which the meeting was originally called* it was postponed until two o'clock, when the weather cleared up and continued fine throughout. The several speakers occupied the time of the meeting until six o clock in the evening, when the meeting separated With three cheers.

That the object for which every man in Auckland, and not a few in the other provinces of this island are anxiously looking', namely, a political severance of the two islands—will he ultimately obtained we have little doubt. Justice to the South, as well to the North, demands this. It is always competent for a Ministry, as in the case of the present one, tohamper if it cannot set itself in open hostility with the Imperial interests. The Ministry has decided on removing the Executive from the place where the requirements of the colony most imperatively call for its presence, in despite of the knowledge of the fact that to do so they will be throwing an obstacle in the way of the Governor in the performance of the duties of the office entrusted to liini hy the Crown. For its own sake, and for the due carrying out of whatever native policy may be determined upon, it will be made a part of the Imperial policy to exclude all extraneous interference from the affairs of that portion of New Zealand inhabited conjointly liy the people of both races. There is, too, a large portion of the Middle Island people which is quite as eager for separation as we are in the North. There is a strong separation party in Canterbury, headed by some of the leading men of that province — the late Superintendent, Mr. Moorhouse, and Mr. Olivier. In Otago the movement lias a still stronger hold, the members for the several Otago constituencies in the Houjo vi /■v-reprc* sen ting the wish of the electors generally 011 this point. We may therefore expect that oue among the first-fruits of the great public meeting of yesterday will be the resuscitated vitality of the separation movement in the middle island—but to meet them we must go in for separation of the two islands, not of Auckland fro in the rest of New ' s . expected that the middle island will consent to separate, retaining a bleeding wen, such as Wellington, at one end of it. With petitions coming from North and boutli together, we cannot but believe that the appeal of the colonists will receive the earnest consideration of the Imperial Government. There vrere many pleasurable features in the meeting of yesterday which particularly struck u? the orderly, respectable, and withal good tempered bearing of a crowd of between 2000 end 3000 persons collected to listen to speeches on a subject of exciting and anger-stirring importance to themselves. There was also another remarkable feature, and that was the presence on the platform and arouud it of a large body of loyal Natives, who took as ruuch interest in the

business as ourselves, someof whom addressed the meeting in.turn, olid showed that they could not oiily sprite Well, and to the point, out that they felt and appreciated the injustice which the late conduct of Southern members lmd ihfilcted as well on them as upon Us. Between the Northern settlei's and the Maoris there has ever beell.il good feeling underlying this temporary rupture —and they look With suspicion upon a Southern policy, which they plainly see oilers — in the event of the imperial Government taking [ Mr. Weld at his word and withdrawing the troops —no other alternative for the suppression of the rebellion than making it a settler's war, and that they know liiciins extermination. It is ihtehded to form a Northern Association. This is a step in the right direction. It is by combination that our wrongs have been partially wrought, qnd in combination is our defence. One of the first acts of this Association, We understand, will be the preparation of a petition to the Grown, asking for the separation of the two islands. This petition should beheaded with the names of the members of the Legislative Council, and of ilie House of .Representative)-; for this portion of the Northern Island, and iilso those ot the members of the. Provincial Council and City Board—and when filled up by the bulk of the people, presented ■with a public demonstration to the Provincial Council assembled, who, in their legislative capacity, should receive and adopt the same, and forward it through his to the Crowu. That this will indeed be entitled to the distinction of being called a monster I petition we have 110 doubt, and. wo trust to see on the roll of that petition the names of a very large number ot the Abori- | gtnal Natives bf Uie quiet districts. They have i evinced a very great interest in the matter, and nothing we believe has occurred amongst them of late which lias been calculated so much to remove that Uncertainty for the future, which has driven many a tribe into rebellion, than the knowledge that the northern colonists areanxious that the settlement of the War and the sole and entire future of the Natives shall be placed Ut the disposal of the Crown.. Had such a hope inspired them some six months since, had (hey seen a deliverance from the vigorous prosecutionists of the Middle Island—there would have been a very general submission of those now in arms against the Queen's authority. The natives know to a man who in the Assembly ore anci have been their friends—who—like too inany of the inen of the Middle Island—have desired extermination t hough they disguised the cry tinder that of vigorous prosecution. Yesterday, Was inaugurated in Auckland the first step in the bond of its future strength, combination for unity of purpose, and vigorous action. That which we have begun well wc trust will be fully and faithfully carried out, and we shall then find the truth of the adage that " Heaven helps those who help themselves.' For a perusal of the very telling and excellent speeches delivered yesterday we refer our readers to the lengthy report of the proceedings which will be found elsewhere.

It seemed to be admitted on all sides, duriug the debate on the Weld amended resolutions, that tlic colony could not continue its present enormous war expenditure. Mr. Russell, the lute Defence Minister, showed that colonial troops are more expensive than are the Imperial tro'opE, talcing the latter at £40 per year per man. This financial state of things then utterly forbids the despatch home of the Imperial troops, until the Imperial war is brought to a conclusion. We liave ever advocated the justness of tlie mother country first concluding this war, and then if she so pleases, giving us real control ever all our internal affairs and making us fully responsible for our conduct of tliem. Until this is done angry feelings will continually be stirred up in the breasts of both the people of Great and of this colony. We have, during this struggle come forward and supplied, with as liberal a hand as possible, both men and means to put an end to this rebellion. And under present circumstances it is in the power of a Governor tiver whom we have no control to prolong the war, either by keeping the whole military force idle for months, as he has done, — both Colonial and Imperial—or by a want of energetic and decisive measures, and by staying the hand of Government when permanentpeacc appears within its grasp. We haVc nci hesitation whatever in declaring that the want of decision of character and the absence of statesmanship in our present Governor, is the greatest cause of the prolongation of this war, and of the great expense therefore caused by it to Great liritain and to the colony. Had anything like the same energetic course of action been pursued here that has UUUstially been pursued by British Generals and Governors in conflicts with enemies, peace might ere now have been restored to this island, and the existence of the acrimonious feeling that is being fomented both between the colony and Great Britain, between the different portions of the colony, and between the latter and tho Governor might have been avoided. His Excellency might have established that which he is apparently desirous of establishing, a character for wise statesmanship, by the successful stamping out of the flame of rebellion and putting both natives and Europeans on the race of improvement. The former might have been taught to respect and admire the pakeha. A wholsome feeling of fear and confidence might have been implanted in their breasts. Fear thnt continued resistance and rebellion on their part would riot only merit but would meet with condign punishment in the way in which they would most keenly feel it; ancl confidence that if they obeyed the laws and lived in a peaceful manner in their own way, that the pakeha would never trample on their rights, would never forcibly or unjustly take one chain of their land, but would, by his industry and commerce be daily adding to the value of that laud and, so without an effort even of their own be constantly increasing the worth of their possessions. Whatever short-sighted croakers may say to tho contrary, it is to tho interest of the Maori that he should part with large tracts of land now Ij'ing desert and which he can never by any possible chance use. For by so doiug he not only gets a certain amount of money for present use in lieu of land which is of no good to him, but tlie value of the rest of his landed property is by the very act of selling a portion of it increased in value. Were there any possibility of the Maori bringing the wilderness into cultivation, our argument might be somewhat weakened, but the wildest imagination will not for a moment dream, that theso,ooo Maoris scattered over this island can ever either in themselves or their descendants profitably use anything but a very small portion indeed of the millions of acres now unproductive. The retention of all the land by t he Maoris, means, if only they could see it, the driving back of that tide of civilization which will otherwise carry them onward by its force, the checking of their mental and moral and social improvement, and of the almost daily enhanced . value of their lands. For whatever of civilization they now have, whatever may be the increased value of their lands, or of the produce of those lands, or of the fruits of their labourin any way, is entirely due to the presence of the English among them. That cannibalism is not now, as it was very recently, still in general practice among them; that their constant tribal wars with all their cruelties and terrors are a thing of the past; that they are more or less imbued with the doctrines of Christianity ; that numbers of them have thrown away a great many Native customs, as well as Native dress, and become somewhat assimilated to a more civilised and a better state of things, is wholly and entirely due to the presence of the colonists among them. And with respect to the financial point from whence wo started, we cannot contiuue to bo

steeped to the lips in war" and debt, bj the incompetency of Governors, or the wilfu rebellion of the Maori: So far as the former i concerned, we Lave a right to expect that nov at least, when his proclamation is unheeded, h< will brace himself up to the task before him and will not allow t|ie .honor of his fcovereigi and his country to oe longer tarnished by whai appears remarkably like condoning treason anc rebellion to the Monarch whose representative he has the honour, to be. Aiid 'frith respect tc the Maoris, it is siinply monstrous to suppose that they shall constantly keep us in a state o: war, and sink us deeper and deeper in debt, and themselves not suffer loss of property. An in demnity, a material guarantee, amplj sufficient tb recoup the expenses o! this war, ought to be _ got from the Natives who commenccd, have prolonged and have refused to stop the war, after we have over and over again held out to them the olive branch of peace. .And as they have ne towns to be taken; as there are no palaces t( be met. among the Maoris, whose vaults arc filled with chests of gold and jewels such as hav been exposed to the eyes of our conquering countrymen in India, China, and other places as it is utterly impossible for us to tiiake ar rangements for them to pay an indemnity ir cash or ih bitllioii, we nrust of necessity make them pay it, and that in a liberal manner, witl what property they have got, viz., their land Unless this is confiscated on what at first sight appears .a large scale, our financial.. state will still remani oho of einbatrdssmeht, the MaoHs 'frill hoi feel the smarting pain o! the punishment they have received, and thej will therefore have both the power and the wil to keep up a cliron if state of warfare to the utte: permanent ruin of this colony. If, therefore (lie Southern members, who complain so mud about paying their share of taxation in the future, that InUst inevitably be caused by war wish that expenditure to cease,.they : are. bount to support the .oiily possible practicable scheme for putting an end tb the Wat' and its attendant expense and debt, and for bringing back intc the Colonial Treasury a considerable portion o: the money already expended by us in this war And as the present Ministers are Southern meD ; the adoption of a different line of policy to thai ive have indicated, and which is, in truth, the policy of the Assembly, but which has hitherto been thwarted by the Governor, ivill bring iown upon them the very gravest responsibility A. very large confiscation and a large influx ol European population into the Provinces oi Auckland and Taranaki a.vo the only possible safeguards we can have for peace. By the former, we inspire a wholesome dread of punishment for wanton and wicked transgression o the Queen's law; by the latter, we so change .he balalice of power, that in the event .of an\ rebellion, the colohy will be able tb put it dbwr ivith its own right hand and power. And surelj i consummation such as this is, one that oughl rom every motive, philanthropic and patriotic, )e ardently desirable and sought after. It wil >e philanthropic and benevolent to the Maori •ace to put a stop once and for ever to war beween us and them, with as little slaughter as Possible, and. so to end that war, that its result vill .be a .hastening Onward of the Maori n the path of bivilizatiori, by showing him hat there is' a higher and a noblei 'xistcnce than that he has hitherto led, thai here is dignity and not degradation in labour hat the latter is " the law of God and the lot 01 nan," and that his real happiness will be in:reascd i'i proportion to his rising to a liighei evel in the scale of humanity. We fully believe hat the possession of vast tracts of land, the vant of incentive to regular, daily, constant abour, are the real curses of the Maori race. Hie, vast bulk of thefn live ii life of idleness. L'hei'e is a certain personage who is said always o find some mischief for idle hands to do ; and he old proverb tells us that " an idle man tempts he devil." Whatever, therefore, will compel liese people to labour more than they have ever ret done, will give them less time and inclination o h&tcli treason and rebellion, and will, there'orc, tend to make them peaceable subjects of he monarch of these islands.