NEW ZEALAND: FRUITS OF MISSIONARY POLICY.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 40, 12 July 1845, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND: FRUITS OF MISSIONARY POLICY.

[From the Colonial Gazette] When thirteen British subjects — nine of them distinguished for their abilities, accomplishments, and moral worth — had been massacred in cold blood at the Wairau — when their murderers had collected some hundreds of armed natives within 16 miles of Wellington — a very inadequate military force was sent to that settlement, and the appeals of the inhabitants for effective protection or leave to protect themselves were answered with contumely and contempt. But when the danger comes nearer the doors of Governor Fitzroy and the missionaries, a ship is immediately despatched to Sydney for " a strong military detachment." The natives may kill and cook the Cook's Straits settlements, but the

missionaries and Governor Fitzroy must be protected. We do not complain of the prompt' sending for assistance in the latter case : but what a light does it throw on the cruel and insulting refusal of it in the former! A New Zealand chief, with a train of armed followers (as will be seen from the extracts from I the Sydney papers inserted elsewhere), has made a raid upon the town of Russell, plundered the ■ houses, outraged the modesty of the women, overpowered the police, cut down the flagstaff, and danced the war-dance amid outcries of — " War, war, war with the white people," — " Rauparaha had killed the white people, and. why should not they," — and " Cut them in pieces and throw them into the sea ?" And while these brutalities were enacting, the local authorities neither interfered to protect the inhabitants, nor would allow the inhabitants to take measures for their own defence. For three • days the inhabitants of Russell were left at the mercy of the savages. This and similar outrages the Syney Morning Herald {or its Auckland correspondent) attributes to " a large number of men of bad character, both English and American, residing among the natives, who are anxious to get rid' of British rule." It may be so : but how came such men to have influence with the natives ? When the missionaries first landed, they found such characters despised and oppressed by the natives — utterly destitute of influence. The mischief has been begun by the missionaries, who have taught the natives to call all white men but themselves " devils" — whohave perr'suaded the natives that the object of all other white men was to cheat, and oppress, and reduce them to slavery. The mischief has been completed by Governor Fiteroy, who, by refusing even to investigate the murders at the Wairau, has led. the natives to believe that they may murder white men" with impunity. The missionaries and Governor^itzroy — not imaginary bad characters among the natives — have ■excited and encouraged the natives to acts of violence and rapine. While these outrages were committing by a New Zealand chief, Governor ; Fitzroy was carrying a bill through his Council to exempt all natives from imprisonment for theft, and to vest exclusively in the chiefs the power of ordering a native criminal to be arrested, and of arresting him. The pretext of the chief (Johnny Hackey) for the outrage at Russell is worth noticing. A Mr. Lord had' married a native who had once been a slave to the chief. This woman had been previously the wife of an Englishman named Gray. The chief claims payment from any one who shall marry his slave : that payment had been made by Gray ; when Lord married the widow, she was a free woman. Now, if the Treaty of Waitangi is anything but a mockery,, she was'free beforehand ; for that treaty promises to all New Zealanders all the rights of British subjects. And yet the Protector of Aborigines paid a gun to Johnny Hackey, in the name of Mr. Lord ; and Archdeacon Williams a bag of rice and some sugar ; and the police magistrate of Russell advised Mr. Lord to give the chief a boat in addition. The Protector of the Aborigines, the Missionary Archdeacon, and the police magistrate, became the colleagues and agents of the native levier of " black-mail."

[From the Stirling Observer.'] The affairs of this infant colony, according to the latest accounts, is at present in a very critical position, and particularly upon the northern part of the northern island, at the town of Russell. The natives in the neighbourhood of Russell had heard of the Wairau massacre, an< that it had been passed over so slightly by the Governor, who very imprudently, and, it h to be hoped, inadvertently, and with the best of motives, after what had the appearance oi being a calm and dispassionate inquiry into the origin of that dreadful affair, decided in favoui of the- natives, and threw the whole blame o: the colonists. Had thia decison been give: between two races of civilized men, each knowing the power of the other, it might have been a* wise as it was intended to be humane. The effect, however, upon a race of savages has beei anything but benefical. They have conclude< that the colonists aie a pusillanimous race, whe are ueither able nor willing to revenge them selves, which is esteemed the first virtue amon^ uncivilized men ; and that the Governor is chicken-hearted fellow, who dares not declar in favour%f his countrymen from fear of th< natives. This fatal decision has travelled very rapidly and has been communicated very widely amonj the natives. The Wairau, upon which the mas sacre was perpetrated, is a river emptying itsel into Cook's Strait, upon the north of the mid die or ' largest island. The accounts then, t< have reached Russell, which is situated upon th peninsula of the northern island, must hay crossed the Strait, and travelled several hundre* miles, and been reported to the tribes, not ii its true meaning, as a merciful mode of dealing towards them, but as a cowardly mode of treat ing a crime, which, in their eyes, demanded im mediate and summary vengeance.