EXPIRY OF THE ANMESTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 355, 31 December 1864, Page 5

EXPIRY OF THE ANMESTY.

The lOtli of December, ilic limit of the period Jixcd by the proclamation of the 26th October for receiving the submission of the rebels in arms, expired on Saturday, and the results have been, as we predicted they would be, fruitless. "We are not aware that a single instance has occurred of any such rebels having delivered themselves up iu this province under the tenns of the proclamation alluded to. Small numbers of rebels have, it is true, since the issuing of the proclamation, " come in" from time to time and delivered themselves up to the military commanders at one or two posts on the "Waikato, but it was before Uiey had become aware of tho terms offered by tlie Governor. In TVanganui and Taranaki the result has been much the same. In tLe latter place we learn by recent advices that the following nine chiefs met Colonel Warre and Mr. Parris on the 28th ult., and surrendered, agreeing to cede whatever land might be required of them. Their names are, Hiaraira Tuaparo, Pirihihi "Wataiwi, Paora te Wati, ]{ewiti, Harera, Mitai, Wiremu, Paraua, and Eratua. They live on the Tataraimaka block, on the boundary of the King's land, and were at the commencement of hostilities forced into rebellion by the King party. There is not a chief of importance among them. Tho proclamation has, then, as we predicted it would do, turned out not only useless, but actively mischievous. We look upon the letter of William Thompson, which wo lately published, asking for " the daj*s after the 10th December until the end of February," as the best commentary that could have been written on the folly of issuing such a proclamation as that which the late Ministry were too honest, too

J «hary of their fair repute as Statesmen and as?] _good citizens, to pat their hand to. "] As far as it goes, the arch rebel and blood- ; thirsty exterminator, Thompson, looks upon tho proclamation as a most desirable bit of diplomacy on our part. Xt has one fault, however, it is SO good that it were a pity there were not more Of it. " Give to me the days after the 10th December until the end of February. I would urge rather till the end of April." He adds, however, that he fears so much time would j scarcely be granted. " Soft as pumpkins," though his countrymen say we arc, lie scarccly takes us to be soft enough for that.

The G-overnor has, in fact, been playing the very game of the rebels. Time is all Thompson is asking for. Every month put past is a gain to them —a positive loss to us. It is not the Maori gun or tomahawk that has conquered us, for conquered we literally are, but it is the extent of time over which this war has been prolonged. The battle lias never been one between the tomahawk and bayonet, but between the endurance of the Maori stomach as against the inexhaustibility of tho supposed Fortunatus' purse, the commissariat chest. Thompson calculates wisely that with the days between the 10th Dec( mber and tho Ist March given to him, the current extraordinary expenditure to the colony for that time of idleness could not be less than ,£"150,000 3ior less than a similar sum to the Imperial Government. He also calculates that a campaign commenced in the latter end of the summer could scarcely be pushed to any great extent before the breaking up of the line weather sets in, and that the time afforded would be most desirable to his fellow rebels for enabling them to gather iu their crops. The rebels too would doubtless like to see whether it is really intended to remove the troops or to paralise the action of the Governor by removing the Executive from the place where they can m-t effectively and sharply. The six weeks amnesty ;1 ready granted them has been most beneficial, so much so, that Thompson is inclined to have s Jit tie more of a good thing.

It lias been sought by those who look upon '■very point yielded to Maori interests as a desirability, to make it- appear that though the Maori has not availed himself of the terms

offered in this proclamation, still the issuing of it lias "putus obviously in the right." IS"ow we most emphatically protest against any such insinuation against the character of the colonists as tliafc conveyed in the above words, used by a philo-Maori organ iu our midst. The colony was never in the wrong. This is not the first offer made to the rebels. Scarcely a week lias passed lor very many months, in which those who desired it have not been received with pardon and kindness ; nay, more emissaries have always i'Cen busy in the rebel camps and districts, •endeavouring to persuaded these misguided men to submit and receive the clemency of the Queen. There was no necessity to have tied up the hands of the General, while the rebels were malting tip their minds how to act. No such proclamation as that of the26th was needed to "put us obviously right" with .Exeter Hall. One thing it has done !t has put us obviously wrunq with the rebels themselves, and Thompson's letter is evidence of this. He asks time. For what ? that other rebels shall have an opportunity of assembling around him and discussing the advisability of surrender, that he may exercise his influence upon them. Kow Thompson, if he have really any power or influence over the native mind, would be able at once to say liow such proclamation would be received, but he really, as his owu letter indicates, has not sufficient influence at once to summon a full runanga of the chiefs ; for giving as reason for so many months' delay, he says : —" This is the reason why I ask " for those days. All Waikato is at Tarantlki. " 0,,e !im here ; therefore I desire to have this delay. Let the chiefs of Waikato come '• up ana be assembled in my presence, and then " I will declare my word to them, and also to "you. It is quite clear that if Thompson is himself sincere in his reasons for asking for this delay, that his influence is small indeed. He may summon a runanga, but he thus acknow--1 edges that he can only expect the chiefs to straggle in at their convenience. Ijut it is obvious iiat the treachery and duplicity which form the mam element of Thompson's character, are at wo-k in his letter to the Governor. It is delay -—not the council of the chiefs—that is sought. They are all, lie says, at Taranaki ; why then, if the mountain will not come to Mahomet, should not iVTahomet go to the mountain ? It is not desirable to give a speecly answer. Delay is tlie Maori's Armstronggun, his most effective weapon against us. It costs him nothing, on the contrary, it is a positive convenience and coiiifort and safetv to Lim. It pounds us at the rate of at least £5000 a day. It docs move, it tires out the patience of those at home who pay a large portion of this sum. It makes recrcants of those in the Southern portion of the Colony who cannot get out of range of this Maori artillery as they lire able to keep their skins out ot the reach t>F the tomahawk and the gun. Its shots tell even on the other side of Cooke's Straits, and plump right into the breeches pockets of Middle Island men. The result of the issue of this proclamation lias not "only been that none of the rebels have availed themselves of its terms, but it has brought us into derision and contempt. It is clearly a sign of weakness, and as such it has been received by them. We take the position of " defeated," and sue, yes, sue for peace, and yet have the effrontery to ask tlie men we court to " come in," to cede their land to us. "Who will not say the Maoris will not look upon this proclamation "as a confession of weakness"—when they couple with it the fact that tlie Assembly oi* 1864 abandoned their jiolicy of a twelvemonth's earlier date, confessedly because they would not find the sinews of war to carry it out, and that they acknowledged their utter inability to pay for the use of j he troops or to raise troops of their own.

Nor "w as the proclamation of October last but simply impolitic and mischievous. It was more—lt was positively contrary in its terms to the direct instructions of the Imperial Government. Jt was only as "defeated rebels" that bir George Grey was instructed to extend to them the clemency of the Crown. This was emphatically and unmistakeably pointed out to liim in Mr. Cardwell's; despatch of the 26th April. This Northern Island exists at the pre- ; S '' I,L moment under the rule of Maori terrorism. -Lliis is a fact—a broad, patent, glaring fact—to ueny which, in this colony, with the evidence before the eyes of all men, no man dare. If defeat has fallen anywhere, it is not upon the ! rebels. We are baffled. The end for which the '•°lo»y has been striving, the policy which, at the suggestion of the Governor, the Assembly adopted a year ago, has been abandoned in despair. A large section of the Northern natives ™ 1 ' ou 'y the withdrawal of the troops and the removal of the Executive to a distance, to ioin in the rebellion. The district of Wanganui is threatened, the siege of the town of New Plymouth has not yet been raised, and in the aikato itself our own men at the various posts are drawn up for two hours before daylight to repulse the nightly expected attacks of the ' defeated rebels' —the broken-spirited, subdued kind-hearted, loyally-inclined gentlemen of \\ aikato and Taranaki, who mutilate our fallen soldiers, and rule us through the length and breadth of the land with the terrorism of the murderous gun and cowardly tomahawk.

[Since writing the above we find, by the returns laid on the table of the House, that one native in this province has come in under the terms of the proclamation. He brought no arms, however. J{anieralJangiahua,of the Ngatiteata, like the.. solitary Brook-green Volunteer, has it ail to himself.] —December 14.