Clippings.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 242, 8 July 1876, Page 7

Clippings.

WHAT SHALL BE DONE WITH TURKEY IN EUROPE? (Prom the New Yorlc Herald) In their dealings with the problems presented by the condition of Turkey, the great Powers in Europe make haste slowly. Occupation of all the provinces north of the Balkan by the troops of Russia and Austria is the objective point of the diplomatic game now on hand in the various capitals ; but the parties to the game, for reasons doubtless satisfactory to themselves, choose to contemplate the case as if such a consequence were to be deprecated or regarded with dismay. Russia, however, is rather franker in this respect than her neighbors and allies. She does not pretend to respect the Ottoman Power, nor to believe that it can maintain itself, or should be assisted and encouraged by Christian governments in its oppression of a Christian people. It is true Russia has two aspects in the case. She runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds. Rightly typified for once by her Imperial eagle, she has one eye on the round of secular sovereignty and another on the emblem of Christian faith. In the confabulations of the diplomats she seems to recognise the Sultan’s rights as she might those of any other potentate, and to deal with them strictly on political grounds ; but when she turns to the down-trodden Slavs on the Danube, she speaks like a crusader. Constantinople is the capital city of the Russian religion. Just as the Christian people of all countries in the ages before Luther turned their eyes to Rome, just as the Catholic people of every country still turn their eyes thither, so the Russian people turn their eyes towards Constantinople as a sacred city—the Rome of the Eastern Church—and they regard the presence of the Moslem there precisely as the crusaders regarded his presence at Jerusalem. Although the crusading spirit has been dead in Western Europe ever since political economy has been studied, and though religion in our part of the world is in a great degree free from all the deep attachments of locality—since Catholics regard the head of their Church and not so much the city in which he dwells—it must be remembered that the primitive condition with respect to ideas of this class persists in Russia, and that the people there are emotionally and intellectually very near what the people of Erance and England were in the Middle Ages. Every Russian government, therefore, that would not entirely cut free from a sympathetic relation with the people must keep this fact in view, and must respect the prejudices and the passions in the light of which the nation regards the intruding infidel with his foot on the necks of men whom the Russians contemplate as brothers because they are both Christians and Slavs. It is not strange, therefore, that the Russian government speaks encouragingly to the revolting people and lets the Russian nation hear only menaces of its wrath at Moslem misrule, while in Berlin and Vienna, where it must remember that a balance of power is still believed in, it adopts a different tone and demeanor*. That the St. Petersburg government plays this role of necessary and perhaps unwilling hypocrisy on a grand scale is one of the evident facts of European Doubtless every government assumes in the presence of other governments a very different attitude from that it holds before its, own people, but this is only flagrant in the case of Russia. Austria is no fonder of the Sultan than Russia is ; but her assumption of faith in his future possibilities, her superserviceable readi-

ness to construct protocols and programmes of reform, to put him in the moral straight jacket of Western political ideas, is her admission that she is not altogether ready to meet the case of his final fall in any other way. It is her cue to stand as the Sultan’s next friend. Every power situated as Austria is must have peace on her frontiers if possible ; and with this necessity guaranteed, it is her interest to have for a neighbor just such a State as Turkey. At least, this is the interest of a nation as viewed in the light of the policy that governs monarchial States in Europe, where the prosperity of the people is less regarded than the contingency of foreign war. At the time that Louis Napoleon assented to those projects of Cavour which resulted in the unity of Italy M. Thiers pointed out that the sovereign of Erance was constructing on his frontiers a power that might prove dangerous. In the progress of the warlike and diplomatic dramas that ended in putting the armed force of Germany at the command of Berlin the old politician continued his admonitions on this key, but was answered with rubbish conceived in a spirit of sentimental politics, until the Empire and Erance fell in a common ruin. So long as States must have more reason to fear the growth of their neighbors than to desire the advancement of their own people this policy will be a good one ; it is therefore the natural policy of every monarchical State that has not gone so far in the development of restraints, limitationss, and other constitutional contrivances as to approach the republican system. Austria, ' therefore, acts naturally in her assumption that all that the Sultan’s government needs is a little patching up—a few paper programmes —a little reform in the collection of the taxes. If by this friendly attitude towards the Sultan she can secure his assent that she shall have the right at all times to tranquilise the frontier by marching her troops into revolted districts on the border, and if by the pretence toward Europe that the Sultan’s government still has all needful vitality, she can keep the Moslem for a neighbor rather than have the Tartar too near her, she will have escaped very handsomely from a great crisis.

But it appears very unlikely that she can secure this result, for the facts of the case are against her in the country in revolt, and a point of perhaps still greater consequence is that in the complication of general European politics this difficulty may become an important makeweight. Austria cannot smuggle out of sight in her own interest a fact that may incline a doubtful balance d which is the interest of several other nations. As to the condition of the revolted provinces, it is impossible to conceive it worse than we know it to be. In Bulgaria the Turkish authorities take away the children of their Christian subjects and hold them as hostages for advanced payment of taxes. Cruelty more heartless and horrible than this was never practised on any people in the name of government. The poor Moslems are scarcely less oppressed and wretched than the Christians, and if the threat to arm the Moslems is acted upon, it will not be so much the launching their ferocity against their fellow sufferers as the giving up of the whole country to brigandage, murder, and barbarism. With all the absolute bankruptcy of the government will be evident at an early day. The Sultan will die this summer, his physicians say, and his nephew and heir-at-law is regarded as even less fit for a throne than the present ruler. It is a political cataclysm, therefore —a case that the Yienna diplomatists cannot cover up with reams of parchment. In the scheme of Continental politics the consequence of these facts is that Prussia has the opportunity to give away this coveted territory on the Danube. Though she will hardly offend Russia, she seems to coquet with Austria. The Berlin government has aspirations for colonial development. It has its agents in Abyssinia, and it will scarcely permit Egypt, if the Ottoman Empire is to fall altogether, to pass into the hands of England. If England is to be made an enemy by such a dispute, it would not do to put Austria in such a position that England, Erance, and Austria would be tempted to act together against Germany and Russia, for that would not be a one-sided conflict. Perhaps a great independent Bulgarian State may prove the only solution of the difficulty. MODERN CONVERSATION. An interesting discussion on this subject has recently been carried on in Public Opinion. The last letter contains the substance of the discussion, and is worthy of being reprinted Sir, — Who is responsible for the frivolous toneof conversation complained of by “Mater?” She will probably answer, her own sex. I say the men are to blame. Erom earliest childhood girls are constantly hearing that they should not know too much, that if they have taken pains to kn®w anything they had better take twice the pains to hide it. The epithet heretic was not more dreaded in the days of Torquemada than is the epithet bluestocking by the girl who would not, if she could help it, pass all her life a lonely old maid. Boys say to her, “ What does a girl want to know?” Journals warn her from the “ intellectual fever.” The men continually ridicule “learned women,” and avoid her if she attempts any conversation higher than small talk. It is well known that those women who have distinguished themselves in the highest walks of science, literature, and philanthropy, have been first-rate housekeepers and devoted mothers. This is always ignored, and the cry is, “Don’t marry a girl who cultivates her intellect, if you want a comfortable home.” The pleasures of frivolity are far more incompatible with a wellmanaged household than reading Lubbock or Murchison, but men would rather hear a girl speak of Miss Braddon and Ouida than of these. Can we wonder that when they are married they discuss divorce cases, and smile at anecdotes of doubtful taste ?

What a sad state of narrow-mindedness is exhibited by the latter half of “Mater’s” letter! If these opinions were general, the only course would be to adopt the system of the East, hide women in veils and harems, and have slaves to guard them. We are in the nineteenth century, with all our progress, our mighty discoveries, extended education and improved morals, and yet all young women must be unflaggingly watched, lest they fall. All young women ? No, that is not what “ Mater ” means. Those rich ones only whose families can afford to pay a steady governess to watch them about. The poorer ones must still be exposed to “dangerous encounters.” It is equally an insult to girls who must go out alone, and to richer girls, to suppose they cannot keep out of “ fast sets ” unless another person is always at their elbow. If a girl is of a mind to iike “undesirable acquaintances” she will find opportunities of making them, however strictly chaperoned; if not, she may be trusted to avoid them, not because the governess will scold, but from her own selfrespect. Ear from being too independent nowadays, girls are not independent enough. Many a pale delicate girl, pining with dyspepsia and sedentary occupations, might become robust with joyous health if she might go walking, rowing, riding, taking plenty of exercise, the sort of thing to make healthy, beautiful women, and strong, brave children. But gtrls are so edged round with proprieties that exercise becomes merely another form of restraint. Why should not girls take walks, go to garden parties, ave, to any parties where the guests are their equals, by themselves ? They would be taught to conduct themselves as good women should, their brothers would be spared the duty (the performance of which is so often made such a very great favor) of escorting their sisters, and men would learn not to annoy a girl merely because they see her alone, if it were considered ungentlemanly, and they knew that the Lady Mary This, or the Hon. Miss That, went about alone as much as Miss So-and-so, who is equally a gentlewoman, but has to go about getting her own living. At present men, not a few wicked wretches, but great numbers of gentlemanly men, seem to think a young lady by herself is fair game, although, probably, one man in three has a sister who cannot always find a duenna.

The way to remedy all this is, not to place more social trammels . upon women, but for men to feel how very mean and cowardly it is of them to try to mislead foolish girls. Yet I must say this for them, that if a girl goes on her way, without deigning to take the slightest notice of them, they seldom persist further than the length of one street, and surely it would be folly for a girl to neglect education and health rather than submit to that much annoyance. Let it be the custom in Great Britain for women of all classes to be perfectly free, so that it is no matter of remark for any girl to be alone, and that custom in itself will be a vast protection to women, will raise their standard of health and intelligence, and we shall hear less of indelicate conversation. THE ANNEXATION OF FIJI. (From the New Zealand Times.) Among the documents laid upon the tables of both Houses of Parliament are further papers relating to the South Sea Islands. In some respects they contain matter of considerable interest. On the 9th July, 1875, Earl Carnarvon addressed a despatch to his Excellency the Governor, taking notice of the replies made to a former request from the Colonial Office, that the four Australasian colonies, New Zealand, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, should contribute an annual sum towards an anticipated deficiency in the revenue of the recently acquired colony of Fiji. The colonies refused ; but it is with the refusal of New Zealand that we have to do. Onr Government, on behalf of the colony, expressed its unwillingness to contribute towards the expenses of Fiji without a corresponding voice in the administration. Earl Carnarvon now states that the Imperial Government has made such provision as seems necessary for enabling the colony of Fiji to contend with what he trusts may be only a limited period of financial difficulty, and in the despatch under notice he states that it is not his object to renew the suggestion that any of the colonies should co-operate in the way previously contemplated by him. In noticing the refusals of the colonies, Earl Carnarvon endeavors to show that those refusals were not founded on a principle of national justice. He considers the proposed joint subsidy of the colonies towards making up the Fiji deficit as a matter where the grace of the action depended upon its being voluntary, and where the amount involved was so small that its acceptance would have been mainly valuable as proving the readiness of the great colonies to accept their membership in the common duties of the Empire. The proposal was made, according to Earl Carnarvon, in order to give trial and effect to the principle of joint action among different members of the Empire, and the refusal was therefore practically immaterial, except in connection with such a principle. He points out that, in his opinion, the annexation of Fiji was made in deference to the expressed wishes of the four colonies, to whose Governments the proposals were made; and whilst therefore he no longer presses his request for a joint contribution towards Fiji, he thinks that the time has arrived when New Zealand, if necessary by herself, but better if in concert with the

other governments of Australasia, should adopt some general principle under which each colony more immediately concerned shall bear its reasonable proportion of the expense attending any policy which it may advocate or approve. He maintains that the adoption of such a principle has, in fact, been already tested in Australasia, in the case of the joint contributions towards the settlement at Gape York. In consequence of the absence of Sir J ulius Vo&el from New Zealand, some delay in answering Earl Carnarvon’s despatch occurred, but on the 27th April, 187 G, his Excellency the Governor transmitted to him six copies of a memorandum in answer from the Premier (agreed in by the Cabinet), and stated that it appeared to the Marquis of Normanby as most desirable that in future any question of contribution from the revenue of one colony towards the support of any new colony that it is proposed to annex, should be distinctly settled before the annexation takes place, so that there should be no subsequent misunderstanding. In the Cabinet memorandum from the Premier it is not too much to say that all the arguments of the Secretary of State for the Colonies are traversed, and the position of this colony as regards the annexation of Fiji, and the subsequent proposal that New Zealand should contribute towards making up the deficiency in her revenue, are placed in a clear light in a statesmanlike manner. The Premier points out that in their refusals the colonies have not been actuated by an illiberal desire to evade responsibilities they considered to be just. He believes that un*derlying the replies of all the colonies there were two feelings—First, that the mother country was drifting into an entirely new colonial, or rather anti-colonial, policy ; that in' times past she did not hesitate to incur colonial expenditure ; that, assuming possession of Fiji was analagous to many previous cases, to ask contributions from the colonies was a novel proceeding, connected only with the presumed policy of casting the colonies adrift ; and that to acquiesce in it, would argue an acceptance by the colonies of the new position it was desired to assign to them. Second, that there was an anomaly in contributing to the cost of a Government in which no control was to be permitted to w tlie contributors. Sir Julius Vogel now, however, notices with gladness that the policy of disintegrating the Empire is falling into disfavor. The Conservatives never supported it, and, witness the recent important speech of Mr. Forster, an important section of the Liberals have apparently abandoned it. But it was not to be supposed that the soreness which for several years had grown up in the colonies atthe idea that they were regarded as burdens on, rather than as valuable parts of, the Empire, should die away in a day. The Premier contends that Lord Carnarvon’s proposal was not altogether viewed in the spirit in which it was made. Besides, it is much better that prospective rather than retrospective arrangements should be made. It is not the business of Governments to be liberal ; on the contrary, they have to consider it, as a rule, highly inexpedient to indulge in any expenditure that can with honor be avoided. The Imperial Government having annexed Fiji, made it more difficult to entertain the question of contributions than would have been the case had the Colonial Governments been told that agreement to make such contributions would be considered necessary before her Majesty would be advised to annex those islands. With regard to prospective contribution as a consequence of advising further annexation, the Premier says that the question is one of great interest to New Zealand, because this colony is no doubt much concerned in the annexation of the Navigator Islands. But as he expresses it (and we 'give the remainder of the memorandum in its exact words) —The case now to be considered is that of prospective contribution as a consequence of advising further annexation. The question is one of great interest to N ew> Zealand, because this colony is no doubt much concerned in the annexation of the Navigator Islands. It is a new feature for a colony by pecuniary contributions to aid the mother country to enlarge the colonial possessions. The Secretary of State gives no analagous instance, excepting one of a joint contribution to a harbor of refuge at Somerset. Humanitarian rather than commercial reasons led to this arrangement, and it is very little in point. But a great deal of weight may be attached to the view, that the Imperial Government have the right to consider advice volunteered by the colonies, unsupported by any assistance, as, to say the least, not much entitled to consideration if it be made on the ground only of Inrperial concern. On the ground of the interests of the whole Empire, a request to extend the colonial possessions made by 300,000 people in New Zealand is entitled to no more weight than a similar request from 300,000 British subjects in a British town. To them, the answer would be, ee Why do you want to cast an additional cost on the country 1 Our colonial possessions are sufficiently large. ”

But the request from New Zealand would really not mean advice volunteered in the general interests only of the Empire : it would mean that it was volunteered, also, in the special interest of the portion of the Empire making the request. And here another fact obtrudes itself. The English Government, before Fiji was annexed, had commenced a crusade against labor traffic amongst the islands. Nothing could have been more satisfactory than this determination to stamp out a system of slavery ; but the feeling . was very strong that the attempt to do it would be comparatively futile until the Government acquired a more substantial right to protect the islanders than they possessed. Whilst they did not hold, and were not directly interested in ruling, a single island between Sydney and San Francisco, their efforts were regarded as spasmodic and temporary, and had the effect of rather stimulating the labor trade, by making it more profitaole. It is impossible to overstate the moral effects of annexing Fiji; but before the annexation, the colonies felt that their own interest in its annexation was trifling as compared with the interest which the mother country had in it, in aid of the deteimination to repress South Sea slavery. The Premier, when he despaired of any thing like a comprehensive South Sea Islands policy being pursued by the Imperial Government, proposed that New Zealand should take the task in hand by means of a chartered company. It is his duty to admit that there is no longer need of New Zealand volunteering in this way; for he recognises that, as far as the Empire is concerned, the steps being taken are in a wise and excellent direction. Not only has Fiji been annexed, but, by an Act of last year, her Majesty, without possession, has asserted in a novel form a right of exercising considerable authority in those of the islands which do not possess civilised governments. Sir Arthur Gordon, the High Commissioner appointed under the provisions of the Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1875, is certainly not likely to undervalue the responsibilities of the powerful position assigned to him. Under these circumstances, it seems to the Premier reasonable that any recommendations for further annexation which New Zealand makes should, unless those recommendations are wholly free from considerations specially affecting itself, be accompanied by a statement of the pecuniary aid it is prepared to render. No doubt such pecuniary aid would be very peculiar; biit the recommendations would also fee peculiar, for they would be made in New Zealand interests. It is unquestionably important to New Zealand that a foreign Power should not own the Navigator Islands. But in this case the Imperial Government has a large direct interest. The islands are excellent, both in resources and position ; they are outside the hurricane track; and for maritime purposes are, it is believed, much more valuable than Fiji, with its dangerous approaches. It is, perhaps, inexpedient to urge annexation just now, but it may be desirable at some future time to do so ; and, in the face of the despatch under consideration, it would be impossible to make the recommendation without knowing the views of the Assembly as to a money contribution. The Premier therefore thinks that when it is considered desirable to take further steps, the Government should submit to both Houses a resolution to the effect that the Assembly recognises that if the colony urges the Imperial Government to further annexation, because of the interests of New Zealand partly or wholly requiring the annexation, a statement should also be made of the amount the colony is prepared to contribute ; and the Assembly is also of opinion that if the Government at any time deem it necessary to recommend the annexation of the Navigator group, such recommendation should be accompanied by an undertaking to submit to the Legislature a stated contribution. Lord Carnarvon intimates that he would prefer that the colony should come to a conclusion in concert with the other colonies. On behalf of New Zealand, the Premier would be glad to aid the result, but he does not see much prospect of it. New South Wales and New Zealand frequently act in concert, and their interests are identical with regard to some of the islands. The other colonies have less direct interests at stake.

DISTURBERS. (From the New Zealand Times.) In his official report of the proceedings at the recent interviews between Sir Donald McLean and Tawhiao, Major Mair, R.M., who was present throughout, says:—“ln the meantime, there are not wanting evil advisers of both races, who, actuated by a false sense of patriotism, and in the case of European counsellors, from sheer malice, will continue to do all in their power to prevent the solution so much to be desired by all wellwishers of the Maori race.” Mr. H. T. Kemp, Civil Commissioner, who was also present during the interviews, alluding to the hope still lurking in the minds of a few of Tawhiao’s followers, of the restoration of

Waikato, says “ Although this hope has never, I think, been seriously entertained by them, I nevertheless, on the other hand, feel persuaded that, it has, however remote, been kept alive by persons having no real interest in the peace and prosperity of the country, but actuated merely by a morbid desire to widen the breach already unhappily made between the two races in these districts, and thus destroy that confidence which seems to be indispensible to the wellbeing of the colony as a whole.” Those who have any knowledge of the state of things existing on the frontiers, must be aware that the statements given above rather understate than exaggerate the true position. For years past the disaffection and suspicion in the minds of a section of the natives have been originated and fanned by mischievous Europeans. Adventurers disposed to prey upon the credulity and ignorance of the natives, find a ready asylum amongst a people unacquainted with their antecedents, and these are aided and abetted by a few of the half-castes scattered about the North Island. Thus any malicious Europeans, burning to revenge some imaginary wrong, find ready to hand a plentiful sprinkling of pliant tools, prepared to embark in any mischief that holds out an immediate prospect of gain, or of temporary importance in the eyes of their fellows, however' .fictitious. A person who has lately set himself up as a maligner of the Native . department, and has succeeded in achieving a questionable sort of notoriety, is a certain Mr. Alley, formerly of Napier. He is a man with a grievance.. . His complaint took the form of a petition to the House of Representatives last session, when the Petitions Committee recommended an official inquiry regarding charges made bj Mr. Alley against Messrs. Puckey, of Shortland, . and Clarke, of Tauranga, of having instigated certain natives to drive off his cattle from land which he had leased at Waiharakeke, Upper Thames Valley, near Ohinemuri. Colonel Haultain was appointed to hold the inquiry, and after giving every opportunity to Mr. Alley to substantiate his charges, he finds that Alley’s statements are “ entirely without foundation.”

Mr. Alley appears to have gone to Ohinemuri with his eyes open, and to have blundered into a bad speculation for himself, in the belief that he was doing a very smart thing indeed. There was a block of land which had not been passed through the Native Lands Court, and the ownership of which was disputed by opposing parties of the Ngatiwiatu and Ngatihaua tribes. Apparently regardless of all consequences to himself or to any one else, Mr. Alley leased the land from one of these opposing parties, whereupon the rival claimants held a meeting, and decided to drive off Alley’s cattle, lest the lessors should have established a claim to rights of ownership according to native custom. In fact, it was a Maori rendering of the famous legal maxim, “possession is nine points of the law.’ Mr. Puckey, anxious to save Alley from loss, and possible danger, and, moreover, to avert any act ‘ ‘ which might complicate our relations with the natives,” wrote Alley a civil letter, informing him of the intention of the natives, and the fact that one section of theHauhaus “ counsels the killing of the cattle.” The peace of the country seems to have been of little consequence to Mr. Alley in comparison with his private interest and the profits he hoped to reap from his clever, but unfortunately rather too clever, bargain. So Mr. Alley permitted his herds to feed quietly in their accustomed meadows, until one fine morning down came a chief of Ngatimaru named Karauna, and, sans ceremonie , drove Alley’s stock to Hikutaia. Then he was inflamed with feelings of vindictiveness and rage, and indulged in all manner of charges against the very persons who had gone out of their official way to give him timely notice of his danger. Hence the inquiry. The correspondence shows unmistakably that Alley, like one of his distinguished patrons who holds a high provincial office in Auckland, is a victim to an impulsive and excitable temperament and a too lively imagination. In fact, he never had a leg to stand upon. When frequently written to by Colonel Haultain, and politely requested to furnish the names of witnesses whom he desired to produce, and to name a convenient place and day for the investigation, Alley wrote shuffling replies, detailing hearsay charges made to him by persons who had heard the statements repeated somewhere, by someone, to somebody else. While he remained in Auckland Alley carefully shunned Colonel Haultain’s* office, and when at last, after two months’ delay of his own causing, he condescended to put in an appearance at an inquiry at the Thames, he came unattended by a solitary witness and unprovided with a scrap of documentary evidence in corroboration of the scandalous charges he had deliberately made. But he made a number of hearsay statements, which were clearly disproved by other witnesses. After a patient inquiry, and after giving

Mr. Alley six months to adduce evidence, Colonel Haultain. reports that the charges are “entirely without foundation.” In truth, Alley appears to. have suffered from a kind of hallucination, which, unfortunately, is not confined to himself. There are Europeans who, though comparatively or entirely ignorant of the native language and customs, actuated by sheer cupidity, rush into ill-considered bargains, regardless of disputed claims, or of endangering the peace of the colony, and are anxious only to secure, by a speculative coup, some advantage over more scrupulous competitors. These persons are not content to confine their operations to those limits within which the Queen’s writ runs. . They find more promising fields in districts where the embers of jealousy and suspicion still smoulder in the native mind. Here, by tempting bribes and clever playing off of rival claimants, they may succeed in setting up a fictitious right, which may form the basis of a claim for compensation for losses which never existed beyond their own imagination, and they find powerful supporters and coadjutors in such, men as have countenanced and lent .their influence to this preposterous claim of Alley’s. Alley seems to have been impressed with the notion that the Government ought, even at the risk of disturbing the peace of the country, to have sided with him ; to have oppressed and despoiled the rival native claimants without inquiry, and to have exhausted all the machinery and resources of the country in protecting his invalid lease and his miserable handful of cattle. He appears to have found in Sir George Grey a sympathiser after his own heart, a bosom into which he could pour lugubrious tales of the wrongs and sorrows inflicted by a cruel Government and a heartless Native department, without fear of wearying the listener. . . But the investigation held by Colonel Haultain is not without sequel. Alley s preposterous claim to compensation out of the public funds had melted away in thin air ; but all was not lost. Sir Donald McLean had just visited Kaipiha and concluded a satisfactory meeting with Tawhiao, and here was a chance too good to be lost. No sooner was the interview over than Alley, boasting publicly of his mission, and of the secret aid which he expected from his sympathising and influential friend, hastened to Kopua, and, by an ingeniously-spun tissue of villification and malevolence, attempted to poison and strangle the first symptoms of returning confidence and friendship in the minds of the Kingites. He did this under the pretence of completing a certain land purchase which probably only existed in his imagination. This is the man who has written letters to the Thames Advertiser and other journals, holding himself up as a sort of martyr, and this is also the class of men who are the professed agents and “ instigators” of the Superintendent of Auckland, and whose cause is championed in the JYcw Zealand Herald. We are not by any means an advocate for a bureaucratic system of government. We are averse to the rough and ready expedients which exist under many other less liberal and tolerant Constitutions than our own for effectually disposing of malicious and incendiary disturbers of the public peace, but we think it is to be regretted that some means have not been devised of bringing within the pale of the law persons who instil suspicion and hostility into the minds of the natives, and attempt to thwart, however weakly, the endeavors to promote the peace and welfare of both races, and the consequent prosperity of the colony as a whole.