NGUTU 0 TE MANU.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2055, 5 September 1868, Page 7

NGUTU 0 TE MANU.

The storming of the pah Ngutu o ta Manu is some compensation for the'reverses^ which the Colonial Forces hava met with since the commencement of tha present war. It wiU serve to revive tha confidence of our troops and to damp tha | ardour of the Maoris, who have no doubt j been greatly emboldened by their recent successes. The tide has now turned. Up jto the present moment, we have been dej feated at every point, and under circumstances which rendered the defeat itself peculiarly annoying. From.the surprise of the redoubt at Turuturu Mokai to tha escape from the Chatham Islands, every* thing seemed to go wrong with us. A* conviction was rapidly gaining ground that the Colonial Forces were disorganised, and that no reliance could be placed upon them either in camp or in the field. But the public will be re-assured on thia point, not so much by any formal report; on the discipline of our army, as by the vigour and determination displayed by ifc in the present instance. Colonel M'Donnell evidently understands his work. It is only when the enemy are taken by surprise that we can look for decisiva victories. There is no possibility of deciding warfare with savages by means of pitched battles ; and yet, to judge from language we sometimes hear, the impression apparently exists in some quarters that a campaign with the Maoris may be settled by one or two de* cisive engagements.- We are told now, -as-we were told years ago, that there ia little fear of the war being protracted j that the struggle need only be 'short, sharp, and decisive,' aiid there will be an end of it. But the" time for such a delusion is past. If we cannot succeed in catching the Maoris as we caught them at Pokaikai and Ngutu ote Manu, we shaU make but- slow progress. For triumphs oi that kind we must trust to the military skiU of Colonel M'Donnell. Hi 3 tactics in both these instances display a genius for war which has not often been met with in New Zealand, and which remind us not a little of the achievements of ' Stonewall' Jackson in: America. By a swift and secret night march, foUowed by an overwhelming attack on the pah, ha carried everything before him ; cut down the Maoris who resisted, burned their defences to the ground, and in a few hours began his march back to Patea. This was done with the loss of three killed and eight wounded. It' was done, too, in one hour. The affaigs at Pokaikai was accomplished with tha same dash, and the same economy of blood. We ironicaUy compared it tha other day with the tragedy of Glencoe,-ia allusion to Sir George's Bowen's historical paraUel between the Maoris and the Highlanders; but at Glencoe thera was brutal treachery without mihtary genius, while at Pokaikai there was mil£ tary genius without treachery. We sup* pose however that Mr George Graham will have no objections to urge against the attack on Ngutu o te Manu.