SULLIVAN'S MURDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume X, Issue 2906, 22 May 1873, Page 6 (Supplement)

SULLIVAN'S MURDER.

To the Editor of tbe Heiiald

Sib, —There has been so much said and written of late regarding Sullivan's murder in the Waikato, that it may seem out of place to refer to it again ; and I should not hare asked your indulgence had it not been for the wholesale reproach heaped on the Government by our Ifew Zealand would-be heroes, for not, taking immediate steps to plunge the country Btill deeper in misery and ruin, and ourselves into still more lasting contempt by all who treat the Maori question, "like all others of national importance, on high and moral grounds. Thtfe are grounds on which, I venture to say, nine-tenths of your correspondents have never attempted to treat the subject. And I also venture to add that those who advocate war, and the extermination of the Maori race, are the very men who, if placed in a position to carry out their supposed desires, would be equally anxious to prolong the struggle from the same motives that they volunteered their services, viz., setjishness. Now, Bir, I beg to asl: on which side of the boundary line was Sullivan murdered ? If on the Hauhau side, was there permission either asked or granted, or do the Hauhaus profess to be governed by or respect our laws ? I think not. Well, if we choose to go beyond the Baid boundary, and actually interfere with the property of a people whose principles are diametrically opposed to our own, without per- j mission, we should also be prepared to abide by the conseauences. On the other hand, if the murder had even been committed on our own : side of the line, is there no alternative but to I go tc war, and thereby decide which of the two races are to be left alive, as one of your heroic correspondents has suggested ? I confess, sir, that the opinions expressed of late by many of your correspondents, and in general conversation, on this subject, has left a doubt on my mind as to which of the two races are possessed of the most savage desires. In conclusion, I beg to quote the opinions of two (out of many) as regards war : —" We cannot make a more lively representation and emblem to ourselves of hell than by the view of a kingdom in war." —[Lord Clarendon.] "Woe to the ruffian that fights a battle that can possibly be avoided j he is a wholesale murderer for his own private selfishness."—[General Bir Charles Napier.]—l am, &c., '£.]?. parnell, May 20, 1873.