WAR OR PEACE.

Otago Witness, Issue 522, 30 November 1861, Page 6

WAR OR PEACE.

U*om the otago Daihj TimMt Nov 2_o2 _ 0 ticle £? S™ ents c enmciaud in an aror ueapp R Co " cei : nin S the question of wr.r down by thf ?V;Zeal? V ; Zeal^ d ' have al "° been strongest W**"* Morili "- Herald ' In the congest language our contemporary asserts Sa/be S tbat P eac^ at L ;; r !ce He i l su Prciuney in New Zealand. enouSH \° m \ "? we did, tbat peace in ea*v blZftl obe 1 °J h *«d, that the nntives will perm&r^ k vtov t0 ac I tliese m it if they be tZSS 1° ICtate the terms - But if "this 2T be a , ccorded them, England is last&e , She *"1 self-con-S as the invader of the territory dismZl T ngG and when her clainis a r e SroSSi ?? S " bjeCtS niassacretl > and their S?un Vaste> she xvill then a PP e^ Me W b "" y ' tO wfcwwledge the physical feran C ° r - reC \! On \ ™* mhmit to piston sufterance lv the dominions over which she had t&e audacity to claim supremacy. An ingionous peace will bear no other construction, - not alone to the Maories, but to the whole civnised world, than the admission that En«lana had attempted to gain by force that ,' "orally, she had no claim to. The wasted homesteads, and slaughtered lives of ncr subjects, would be but the retributive sacrifices, only too justly laid on the altar of the lawless vanity of. a nation that know no laws, human or divine, in the pursuit, of territorial aggrandisement. The issue raised oy the war, it must be remembered, has not been allowed to rest on the causes that produced it. Did the natives only fight for the land of which, they allege, they have been unjustly deprived : *did they simply con- j ■ tent themselves with defensive\var to'guard the right to property, of which they deem themselves defrauded : did they simj.fy asset t tliat the disputed title to land at Taranaki should have been fought in a court of justice, and not on the battle-field, peace might be granted as a matter of equity, or as a matter of expediency, and British honor suffer no tarnishing. But that question we have not to I decide on, for the Maories have themselves ignored it, in favor of the protest they have rawed against the supremacy of Great Britain in New Zealand. What matters the safety of a little wooden tenement, the ignition of which has led to a larger conflagration ; the hut may be left to its fate, whilst the safety of the palace, and the arresting the spread of the flames be attended to. Even so is it with Xew Zealand. The title to land in Taranaki, which ignited the spark of warfare, is nothing to the conflagration that has n risen on other and greater questions. The issue has come to this : shall England uncompromisingly assert her right of dominion over New Zealand, her claim to govern the two races that inhabit it, or shall she submit to a negation, or even a division of her powers, and to secure temporary peace, lay herself open to the infliction of wrongs, that one day must culminate into a war of extermination. It is almost an insult to Sir George Grey to suppose that he would allow the honor of Great Britan, confided to his care to suffer in his keeping. But men like Sir George, so thoroughly self-contained, co earnest in the prosecution of their own ideas, so ingenious in converting into tools men who deem themselves allies, are apt to be led away by over anxiety to secure their object aud to' forget that the end does not justify the means. In his anxiety to secure peace, Sir George may be trepanned into an inglorious one; and it is an essential part of the policy he pursues that no one will know that pence i<* -«tt%blished until the conditions are decided on. The very ministers by whom he should be guided, it is said, Sir George is converting into blinds tools, who when they think they are leading are absolutely being led. The impoverished inhabitants of the north, .and the ruined residents of Taranaki, wh<sse relations have been murdered, whose property has been ruthlessly destroj-ed, who have been driven away as houseless, homeless, wanderers from the homes they had circled around them, even these have not complained of the war, have not murmured against the policy that contributed to it. Something we may allow to the desire of vengeance, but the revengeful feeling might have been doubled edged, might have been directed against the natives that committed the ravages, and against the Governor that proclaimed war. But the latter feeling they have never expressed, and it fair to suppose they do not entertain it. As we have said we will not express an opinion whether the first act that contributed to the war a was unjust and impolitic, or the reverse. The question is one that would absorb columns, but something of weight may at any rate be allowed to the fact, that tho?e who have suffered most by war, have not disapproved of the policy that led to it. But if the exception may be taken to the opinions of the people of Taranaki, that they themselves were interested in the question of acquisition of property which occasioned the war, we may instance those who never had, and never can have, any end to gain by the war, but who in many ways have been, and will be, made to suffer by it, aud who still would shrink with disgust from an inglorious dishonoring peace. The inhabitants of the Southern Island have learned the lesson " to suffer and be strong." With no interests to secure in the war, they have to contribute to the expenses of carrying it on, and thej' have to submit to tie unnatural alliance between themselves and the Northern Wand until war is., terminated. There is no use to attempt disguise, the Southern Island has no interests in common' with the Northern, and a separation must be brought about. But the inlands have drifted in common into a war, and though the interests of the one only are concerned, the honor of the other compels it to see that war terminated, before the union be dissolved. The separation, which is the vital interest of the Southern Island, must be delayed until the war is concluded : but the inhabitants would never" be party to a peace which in the slightest degree could compromise the reputation or honor of the nation, allegiance to whose supremacy it is their delight to acknowledge. If Sir George attempt peace on any terms, he will raise a storm against which bis tact and statesmanship will not be proof. The honor of a nation, like that of a woman, will not Bear the slightest breath-stain ; like Caesar's wife, it mu:t be above suspicion. But even expediency cannot be urged in favor of an inglorious peace, for the British are masters of the situation ; the power of dictating terms is within their and the weakness would be inexcusable thut would lose sight of the advantages that in reality have been gained. Sir George — in allowing every one to suppose that peace is certain to be established — in permitting troops to understand tbat their seryices will shortly be dispensed with — in ostentatiously undertaking peace missions to the natives, — adopts a policy which a half-savage race will be apt to construe into irresolution and weakness. The first step should have been to require an unconditional consent to the terms on which he was prepared to grant peace, then the reforms it is said he proposes to introduce, he could have shaped into concessions. But these reforms are now proposed conditionally on peace, and the Maories will regard them as the hard won results of their appeal to arn)3. Instead of making submission as disaffected and revolted subjects, t^ey will consider they have mr.de terms as between nation and nation. - ' -It has been discovered that several houses . ' in Holborn have reverted to the Crown, owing :>*tO'the fact that no inheritor or claimant of the J)(V> existed since 17.37. The back