THE MAORI DEAK. (From the Spectator, September 21. 1861.)

Otago Witness, Issue 529, 18 January 1862, Page 7

THE MAORI DEAK. (From the Spectator, September 21. 1861.)

There is something very striking in the picture of the Maori chief, Wiremu Tamihana (or Wm. Thompson, as he is called), as delineated in his owu actions and letters, who now sccnis to be taking the command of the powerful tribe of WaiKatos in the New Zealand war. We may be, perhaps we shall be, obliged to regard him as a political enemy, and to expose hi.s forces and his policy. The firmer, more lucid, aud self-restrained his intellect, the more dangerous will he be as .i i'oc, if he determines to encourage the Waikatos to throw off the British rule. But, however this may be, we can at least afford to do full justice to his motives and his character, and to distinguish cleat ly between such a leader as he bids fair to be, and the wily and grasping chief (W. King) who has been our opponent in the Taranaki war. The English settlers, it is said, have not more faith in their new commander, General Cameron, than have the Waikatos in their new leader. Aud should the war be renewed — especially if it he re • newed on the undivided responsibility and at the sole cost of the English settlers in New Zealand, as our leading contemporaries seem to wish — we fear there can be no result short of the practical cxterniinution of a line aud powerful tribe, with its singular and able chief.

Taimhana (or Thompson) has much in him apparently both of the religious and the political leader. He is a convert to Christianity, and, aotording to his own account, for a long time aft t hi-, conversion he took the specific duties of a Christian preacher in the absence of any Chri.sti.in minister. The missionary who had converted him \. - as obliged to live in a Waikato district at some d'f-la ucc, and the Maori therefore, except as leg'.mls >l baptism, and the administration of fie s icr.uncnt," " stood," as lie tells us, '• in his place." He established aud has maintained for three years in hi.s own village, Matamata, a school of sixty children, and has been quite recently engaged in finding a .suitable permanent teacher for these children. We shall see that these political functions materially modify his political policy, but if his efforts were primarily lcligienis, he never le:->t sight of the secondary political results, which lie hoped to bring out of the change of faith. It wis his great grief to sec the multitude of petty intertribal strifes which divided, weakened, and disgniccd his fellow-countrymen, and he spared no pains to set them at rest. Three such disputes; is influence served to terminate. ''I woikcd," lie says-, " at quarrels about land, and through i.iy exertions the troubles we r e with Oiffieulty ended." But he saw with great pain that there was no loot of civil order in the Maori institutions, and it w.is his effort to plant one. We must not forget wh it the civil state of the native society has become. Their petty land strifes constantly succeed e.-vh other in continuous waves, while the British Government has, by its own confession, no power :it all to deal with these. '' It ought to be understood," said Mr. Richmond, in 1858, "that tie British Government in New Zealand has no reliable means but moral persuasion for the government of the aborigines. It is powerless to prevent the commission by n-itives against natives of fie most glaring crimes. Without their consent it is impossible to survey or even to traverse fie country ; much less could the Government undertake the execution of roads, bridges, or other publiOworks in native territory." Such was the internal anarchy which Tamiliani sought to remove, lie found the appeals topersonalinfiuer.ee a merely temporary remedy. He built, therefore, a large building wherein the different tribes might meet and discuss their disputes. This was dime, hut though the house was built, and the tribes assembled, mere assemblies did not lead to civil order. " Evil still manifested itself," "the river of blood was not yet stopped." " I considered, therefore," he goes on, " how the river of blood could be made to diminish in this island •, I looked into your books, where Israel cried to have a king for themselves to be a judge over them. And I looked at the words of Moses, in Deute-* ronomy xvii. 15." The passage alluded to is striking as showing how eagerly, and perhaps unconsciously, the mind of the Maori chief chiiig to the thought of national independence. " Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose : one from ama ty thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thm mayest not set a sti anger over thee, which is not thy brother." " I kept these words in my memory," says Taminana, " through all these years, the land feuds continuing all the time, and blood being spilt, I still meditating upon the matter." He adds, in another letter : " If all the kings of the different islands were from Rome only, from thence, also, might come one for here ; but is not the Queen a native of England, Nicholas [ Tamiliani is behindhand in his recent Russian history] of Russia, Bonaparte of France, and Pomarc of Tahiti, each of his own people ? Then why am lor these tribes rebuked by you, and told that we and you must unite together under the Queen ? How was it the Americans were permitted to separate themsdvcs ? Why were not they brought under the protecting shade of the Queen, for that people were of the same race as the English, whereas I of this island am of adifferent race, nor nearly connected. My only connection with you is through Christ — Ephesiaiis ii, 13." While Tamihana was thus brooding over the political wretchedness of his fellow-countrymen, and searching in the Old Testament history for their only adequate remedy, at the end of the year 1856 the chief To Hcu Hou called a meeting at Taupo. Delegates from all parts of the islsnd, to the number, it is said, of eighteen hundred, assembled at this convention, which was expressly designed to promote union among the Moarics. " When the news of this meeting reached me," says Tamihana to the Goiernor, " I said, ' I will consent to this to assist my work, that the religion of these tribes that have not yet nnitcd might have time to breathe.' I commenced at these words in the book of I. Samuel, viii. 5. [ ' Make us a king to judge us like all the nations .'] This is why I set up Potatu in 1857. On his being set up the blood at once ceased, and the tranquillity has rcmrined till now."

This is as remarkable a letter as any Christianised savage ever wrote. The strong hold evidently taken on him by the Old Testament Scriptures— the mixture of pure patriotism and keen ambition in the whole tone of the sentiment and thought— the strong desire to promote Maori civilisation, and the deep conviction that the burden of responsibility was laid upon him to solve this difficult problem, and to choose the king who should best suit his countrymen — in a word, the half prophetic, half statesman-like tone of the whole narrative of his measures, reads almost like some passage from one of Cromwell's apologies for his sagacious and deeply meditated, but «ot the le3S arbitrary measures.

But if this account of the train of thought by which Tamihana had been laid to advocate the Maori king-movement is curious, certainly not less so is the history of his policy during the late war. It shows a breadth of caution and self-re-straint, an ability in negotiation with rival chiefs, and a strength in controlling the impetus of a popular feeling, which is rare indeed in a savage race. At the breaking out ofthe Waitara war, Tamihana resolutely kept aloof. At a meeting of chiefs called to express their opinion to the Government as to its merits, Wiremu Tamihana moved the resolution earnestly condemning the treacherous Maori policy of murdering defenceless settlers which had so often been adopted at Taranaki. When, however, the resolution condemning the rebel chief TCiuai's motives for rebellion was brought forward, Tamihana refused to vote for it simply alleging that there was not enough evidence on the subject, — that he did not understan 1 the quest ion clearly enough to condemn the rebel leader, though he could not then support him. Subsequently, he quarrelled with a chief who was his frien I, for joining, like many other individual Waikatos, Kiwi's rebellion, an I used his whole moral influence to keep back the Waikatos from meddling in the war. Again, when a Waikato native was found dead — and as it was thought, murdered by the English — he joined a formidable force which went to enquire into the cause of death, but used all his influence to hold back the rashness of the party, and when it appeared there was no evidence of foul play, he withdrew it altogetl er. After the battle of Mahoetahi, in which General Pratt defeated the au.\ilary Waikato force, the exasperation grew so great among the neutral members of the tribe that many of them rushed into the war, and distinguished themselves by reckless and ill-judged assaults on the English position.

Then, and not till then, Tamihana, after the most pressing solicitations, went to the scene of war, but not as a belligeicnl — as a moderator, lie wrote to General Pratt requesting a time for negotiation,whicl), after some misunderstanding lie obtained. He then called a meeting of hi 3 tribes, and advocated the unpopular pacific feeling, to their great disgust, but — so great was his authority— with success. His next difficulty was to bring over Wiremu Kingi. He told him that his quarrel, however just, was not one in which the Waikatos were interested. He said, moreover, that Kingi had been the head and mind of the war-policy, while the Waikatos were merely summoned to his aid as physical auxiliaries in a contest in which they wcro unconcerned. This produced the desired effect. Kingi at once fianded over the disputed land at Waitara to the Waikato chief, and declared that his gift was free, and that he claimed no further voice in the disposal ofthe land. Tamihana then gave his decision thus — that all the forces of all tribes should go home, and the English troops should be requested to retire -to Tarauiki, leaving the disputed land to the regular operation of law, as it should be declared by the judicial committee of the Privy Council on appeal. The English troops were not withdrawn, but Tamihana dispersed those of his own tribe and of Wiremu Kingi's followers, and returned to the north, much dissatisfied with the conduct of the English. Since he has been there, the Governor of New Zealand has decided, probably wisely enough, that the Maori-king movement has fomented the spirit of insui rection, and cannot be permitted to go on ; — less wisely, perhaps, that the Waikatos must make compensation for their rebellion in joining with the party of W. Kingi. Tamihana replies, that the Maori king was never meant to be a rival of the Queen, but only take the same position under her towards the Maoiics that is taken by the Governor of New Zealand towards the English settlers, and he resists the demand for restitution. He has expressed his views very skilfully in a letter to the Governor, and in a subsequent one, dated 7th June last, he urges again very strongly the impolicy of hasty war. "Be not in haste," he says, '• to begin hostilities. Let us duly remember the words of St. James, ' Swift to hear, slow to wroth. 1 . . . . But now, O friend, restrain your angry feeling against all parts of New Zealand. Let our welfare be lh.it of the lips alone, If such be the coarse pursued by us, it will be a long- path, our days will be many while engaged in fighting that battle. Let it not be transferred to the battle with hands. This is a bad road ; a short path ; our days will will not be many while engaged with the eilgo of the sword. But do you, tho first-born of God's sons, consider these things. Let not you and me t>be committed to this short path. Lot us hike ' the circuitous one ; though circuitous, its windings are upon firm ground." This is at least quaint and characteristic writing, and the whole policy of Tamihana indicates a moderation and self-restraint, and yet firmness of view, which is e\ti cindy unlike our notion of savage courage,

We do not think that the Maori-king policy is consistent with the British Government in NewZealand. But we do feel that Wircmu Tamiliana has in him a vein of true, deep, and religious patriotism which, though probably not umningled With personal ambition, is a spectacle rare enough and noble enough to awaken wonder, sympathy, and even emulation in the hearts of his English rivals. lie is a religious statesman, with a feeling for the sacredness of peace as deep as Mr. Glaelstone's, and a desire for national autonomy ?& strong as that of the Hungarian statesman, M. Deak. If he shows his patriotism, his fortitude, tiiul his sagacity only on a narrow scale, — yet when we think that they are the fruits of a Christian graft on pure barbarism, they put the sagacity, patriotism, and fortitude of Europeans to shame.

Watts' Folly.— ln an article on accidental inventions in Macmillmt's Magazine we find the following : — A British plumber named Watts, re-tire-i to bed one night as usual, and has a most extraordinary dream. He is — so his fancy paints him to himself — crawling about on a chinch roof, about to solder up a defect in it, when, by one of those unaccountable incidents which we take very quietly when they come to us in dreams, down goes the ladle of boiling metal into a pool in the street below. " Try again," says old Honesty, and he descends to get his ladle and his lead. Tho former i* there sure enough, but the latter is represented by a myriad of tiny, perfect spheres. With real lead material, and his eyes wide open, he goes through, next morning, the exact process he has noticed in his dream, and inaugurates the manufacture of lead shot. The story goes on to tell us that ■' the patent he had for invention he sold for £10,000, and with that sum he built, for the embellishment of his native city, a crescent of houses, which the citizens were unpolito enough to christen Watts' Folly."

Taking Him at His Word.— He (Lord Dueie) was staying with me (during his father's lifetime) for a few days, when dining with us one evening at a neighbour's house, the lady having seen some beautiful geraniums presented by him to my wife, asked him if he could spare her a few plants from his magnificent collection. "Oh, yes," was the ready reply, "a waggon-load if you like," — little suspecting that he would be taken literally al his word. Such, however, was the case, for, happening to be on a visit at Wood-chester-p irk that same summer, we were walking together, when the Earl, seeing a waggon drawn by three horses coming down the drive, exclaimed, " whose waggon can that be, Henry, coining towards the house ? " "We will see,"' was the reply ; when, approaching it, the driver stopped his horses, and doffing his hat, with a pull at his forelock, said, " Mrs. B.s compliments, my lord, and has sent for the geraniums." " What does the man mean ? " asked the Earl, in surprise. t( IIo !ho ! '' shouted Moreton, unable to control a loud fit of laughter, '•' by Jove ! the little woman has taken me at my word, and she shall have them, too." — " Recollections of a Fox-hunter, by Scrutator."

A Bachelor's Advice — " Lenz, bring your chair a little nearer," whispered Petrowitseh. confidentially ; '• no one need hear what we are talking about. Listen? if you will take my advice, don't marry at all." " There is little chance of my thinking of such a thing at this moment, uncle." " Young people like you never know what they would be at — there can be no doubt of that. Now, Lenz, take example by me. lam one of tbe happiest men in the world. I have just been six weeks at Baden-Baden, and I now return to enjoy myself here ; and wherever I go I am my own master, and the world must serve me ; and there are no girls in these days worth a farthing ; those who are simple and good bore a man to death — those who are shrewd and clever require constant amusement and excitement ; all d.iy long, at every meal, they must have some fresh diversion. And then you hear them say, day after dvy — l Goodness ! how tiresome it is to manage n house— you men know nothing of such toil." And then, in addition to all this, comes the plague of screaming babies, and relations, and school-fees, and taxes." Joseph in the Snow, and the, Clockinaker. By Auerbach.