AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, JULY 28, 1865.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 533, 28 July 1865, Page 4

AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, JULY 28, 1865.

Ix a late issue we alluded to the circumstance that Mr. Fitzgerald, of Chris,tclmrch, has during the past rebellion been in continual correspondence with the rebels. We have been assured, even by those whose Maori proclivities would lead them to look leniently upon the propagation among the King natives of doctrines of a very questionable character, that the advice given by Mr. Fitzgerald in his private letters to Thompson and others, has been such as to have caused the obstinate resistance to the British arms and authority which characterise the present struggle, and that the production of many of these letters would place the mischievous author of them within reach of the law.

We have now before us a pamphlet published at the P/w-s- oilice for distribution amongst the disalfected natives. It contains two letters, the one a Maori letter— supposed to be written by the tribes to Mr. Fitzgerald—(lie other Mr. Fitzgerald's answer in return. Both letters are published in Maori, and a translation is appended. We give in another column the ".English version and may state that we are informed by good Maori scholars, that, iu the original, many sentences are so constructed as to bear a very diti'erent meaning to that conveyed by the translation —just as the words " pai marire," " ail serene" in themselves, may when placed iu context with other matter convey a. hidden and a double meaning.

There is ;i great deal of twaddle iu Mr. Fitzgerald's reply, and we were not a liftle amused to liiul that like a certain gentleman —between wlio.se character indeed and that of Mr. Fitzgerald there is much similarity on many points —he too can quote script ttre and preach morality when it serves his • urn. There ismuch also that is very mischievous. In one portion of his letter he tells the Maoris that they liner heen ill-used by the Governor, the Government, and the people. In another ulace he tells them that if he thought they had been wronged, and would sillier by being placed under the, same laws as ourselves ° * *

they would be justified in fighting to the death, for that he knows no death more glorious than tor a man to die lighting for Ins inheritencc. It is very well for Mr. Fitzgerald in the first portion of this vile paragraph to put the case as a supposition. When in other parts of the letter he has done his best to make the Maoris believe this wrong to be not a. suppositious but a real one. "We should like, too. to know the full construction that could he placed upon the paragraph alluded to iu the language in which it was originally written.

Further on. we come to the opinions of Mr. Fitzgerald on the right of the natives to have a king of their own, and separate Provinces under Native Kings, where Maoris should be left to the enjoyment of selfgovernment'. At page.-; I t and -15 we find the following : — " But you ask niearq the Maoris to have a " separate Icing for themselves. What do you " jneau by a separate king ? Is he to rule ' over the Maoris all parts ot the Island, or only over particular districts ? It isimpos- " sibfe that he can rule over the Maoris in all " parts, for no two people can live together •' intermingled one with the other, some '' obeying one king and some another. That would be sure to lead to fighting. But I " think the Maoris are quite right in thinking li that in any part of the country in which " almost the whole population is Maori, and "most of the land belongs to Maoris, that " part should be separated oil into a separate '' Province, and should have a Suporiiitcn-

" dent, and :i Provincial Council tor itself. " who should l)c able I.<j make laws tor that " Province. just as the Superintendent and " Provincial Council do in English Provinces.

'• The .Superintendent of such a Province '• would be the M.umi Kim; for that Fro-

" viuce, and icouhl r/ovmi thu people in it " whi'/ht')' Jfaofi or Pakehct, and would " maintain order and see tliafc tue law is " enforced, and that the judgments of the " Courts of law are obeyed. '' You have a fair right to demand ot the " Queen and the General Assembly that you •' shall have those districts in which the " Maoris still live, made into separate pro- " vinces. in which the Maoris shall be thus " alloiretl to t/ocem themselves. » Tliis is a sort of Maori King movement, " which you will be able to establish, and in " which I hope the General Assembly and " the GJuecn would agree." We have not space at the present moment to enter into the much vexed question ot tiie establishment of Native Provinces, such as alluded to bv Mr. Fitzgerald. There can be no doubt as to the result of any such experiment. What we would rather dilate U|)on at the present moment is the utter impossibilit v of anything like submission being obtained from the rebels, while such evil min.lrd attempts to uphold tnem in the belief of tiieir having been made the vie, mis of I'hii'opeaii aggression, are left unpunis.iei , and men like Fitzgerald, safe in the seclusion of the Middle Island, with impunitv are permitted to incite them to protracted

resistance. , , ~ -, y Writing of Mr. C. 0. Davis, m the Mr. Fitzgerald says, " Mr. Davis has been " publi-clv so eager in the cause ot peace, " that it' he has been really inciting the •' tribes to war, lie must bo a scoundrel lit " only for the hangman." What we a ay is,

let the snme rule ap.plr to all. We do not say that Mr. Davis is blameless, but we do say that lie should not be alone in the dock. As the same artit-lo in the Press from which we have .just quoted, very truly savs: —"A miserable gudgeon has been taken, while salmon unheeded were playing about the book."