THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 643, 26 March 1864, Page 8

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

The Aborigines Protection Society have forwarded to Sir George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, an address signed by Lord Chichester, Lord Ebury, Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart. ; Sir J. H. Lethbridge, Bart. ; Messrs. S. Gurney, M.P, ; W. E. Forstcr, M.P. ; T. Barnes, M.P ,- H. Pease, M.P. ;E. Barnes, M.P. ; E. A. Leatham, M.P ; John Brady, M.P. ; Samuel Morley, General Thompson, Mr. E. Miall, and a number of other gentlemen, entreating his Excellency to avail himself of the first favourable opportunity which may present itself of endeavouring to terminate the war by negotiation, and especially that be will listen to any overtures of peace which any of the natives who have taken up arms may make. The memorialists earnestly deprecate a proposal which has beeu made to confiscate the lands of all contumacious and rebellious natives. Such a policy, they say, " would shut the door to any possible settlement of the difficulty except by the sword; iv other words, it would lead to the extermination of a people who value their property in the soil even more than their existence, and who, 'despite their faults, are worthy of a better fate." The address concludes as follows : — " We therefore pray that in the hour of victory your Excellency will temper justice with mercy, and give to the world another bright example of forbearance and magnanimity. By such means, and such means only, may we hope to see the Maori race saved from extinction, and the dominion of our beloved Queen firmly established over every portion of the islands of New Zealand."

The "Times," commenting on this document, observes : —

" We should be rejoiced to hear that " peace had been obtained upon terms " which saved our honor and the British " sovereignty, even though it added no- " thing to the soil in our possession. But " as to confiscation, the expenses of the " war have to be paid, outrage and fraud " must be mulcted, and military positions " must be held for security. * * " As thi 'gs are, for us to give way, and " to allow the insurgent wave of half- " educated and rn«re than half-corrupted " savagery to overflow all the terri- " tory we have reclaimed, and break " against our very towns, would be the " greatest conceivable misfortune to these " poor creatures. W. King would speedily " find other chiefs with pretensions at once " more novel and more attractive than his " own, and might finish his career, as many " New Zealand chiefs before, by supplying " a meal to his successful rival. So we " are consulting the interests of the natives " as well as the necessities of our own posi- " tion, by making no peace with either him " or any other chief so long as they attempt "to lay down laws aimed against the " British sovereignty. The struggle can- " not last long, for the causes of dissolution " which had for ages been at work in those " islands have no doubt been quickened " since the appearance of Europeans in " that part of the world. It is not we " alone who have done the mischief; we " found it at work ; and New Zealand tf may still have to thank us for poatpon- " ing the fatal hour when the Maori will " be as extinct as the huge wingless birds " and the strange marsupial animals that " once occupied that last discovered re- " gion of the world. What we have now 11 to do is plain enough ; we have to sup- " press a rebellion, and to pave the way " for a solid peace."

The " Daily News" of Jan. 22 furnishes the following remarks :—

" The proposals brought forward in the " New Zealand Legislature for dispossess- " ing the natives of their land has startled " some people in England on account of " the vast scale on which they are franjed. " The New Zealand Settlement Bill was *' introduced into the House of Repre- " sentatives by Mr Fox, one of the new " ministers, as ' the key-stone of the " policy of the Government,' the area " of the land which it was proposed to " confiscate exceeding that of Yorkshire, " the largest of our ' English counties " The course which the European colonists " are pursuing! in New Zealand conforms " so closely to the conduct of communities " in all ages of the world when placed in " contact with communities weaker than

j " themselves, that we have no disposition "to judge it harshly. But two things in " connection with it deserve attention. " In the first place, it is a colonial or " rather a sectional as distinguished from " an Imperial policy, which the Govern- " ment of New Zealand is now following. " The policy has its origin with the Euro- " pean settlers, and is shaped according to " their convenience. This was inevitable, " for the Colonial-office was compelled " some time since, in a despatch to Sir " George Grey before this -war began, to " confess its inability to regulate the rela- " tions of the two races. From the date " of that despatch the Maori subjects of " the Queen were remitted, all treaties " made with them notwithstanding, to the " iustice and humanity of their white " fellow-subjects. But next let it be " noticed that while the policy of the New " Zealand Government has a colonial and, " indeed, a sectional origin, it i 9 one which " would not and could not have been pur- " sued without Imperial aid. .For it is a " policy which, as the English gentlemen " who have memorialised Sir George Grey " observe, ' shuts the door to any possible " settlement of the difficulty except by the "sword;' and 'would lead to the exter- " mination of a people who value their " property in the soil even more than " their existence, and who, despite their " faults, are worthy of a better fate.' '* There is no surer means of " adding fuel to the flame cf war, "of extending the area of disaffection, " and of making the natives fight " with the madness of despair, than a " policy of confiscation. Left to them- " selves the colonists would have found " some other way of dealing with the " natives than this. But they knew that " they should not be left to themselves. " They had excluded the Queen from the " government and claimed a real and prac- " independence, but their nominal connec- " tion with the Crown left in their hands a " lever by which they were able to move " the empire. The Queen has parted " with her right to protect her colonial " subjects, but she has not acquired the " right to leave the Europeans to settle •' alone with the natives the terma on " which both may live together in peace. "The astute colonists have taken an accurate " measure of our weakness, and in the " name of that British supremacy which " they have practically abrogated for " themselves, they will get the land — " the first, the constant, and the only im- " portant source of their quarrels with the 11 natives."

A. French Fetb.— The Duke de Wouchy's grand fete at his superb domain of Mouchy Noailles came oft on Saturday, with all the eclat and magnificence which were to be expected from his exquisite taste and large fortune. Two special tr ins were organized, one of which brought 40 guests to dinner at 5 o'clock ; the j other arrived at 7 with the rest of the company. , it the Heilless-Moucliy station the visitors found tV>e duke's carriages and four, and postillions in powdered wips, waiting to take them to the chateau. At half-past 9 private theatricals commenced. The theatre was improvised in a temporal? building adjoining the orange conservatory, at a little distance from the house. All the ladies were conveyed thither in Bath chairs, called "vinaigrettes." The gardens were brilliantly illuminated. The performances were l'Histoire{(fun Sou, fand an occasional piece I called Leg Cascades de Mouchy, written hy the Marquis de Massa. All the performers were princas, dukf s, marquises, or count. The Fairy of the Cascades was represented with great success by the Countess de Pourtales; the Marquise de Galiffet played a vivandiere, and sang several coup'ets with the Duke de Mouchy. Aft r the play, the ladies being taken back to the house in their rolling chairs, there was a first supper. This over, dancing began, and at two o'clock there was an animated , cotilon. The first return train took away a great many ladies at three but enough of the party remained to* keep up dancing all night There was a second sapper at four o'clock, and it was not till halt-past seven a.m. that the lights were put out and the last train left for Paris. The fete was wor'hy of the most brilliant days of Louis XV, and will never be forgotten. Bouauets were presented to all tbe ladies, and also fans of white silk, on which were written in red letters the names of the noble performers in the theatrical entertainment. The following is a list of some of the coopaDy besides those above named : — The Prince and Princess de Metternich, the Princess de Pagan, the Count de SaintRoman, M. and Madame de Qanay, M. and Madame de Courval, M. and Madame Alphonss do Rothschild, M. jrad Madame Gustavo de Rothschild, Madame de Cazas and her sister, M. and Madame Contat Desfontaines, Madame de Belleyme, M. Fould, the Prefect of the Oise, Baron Finot, M Af. de Saiat-Priea, de Meremont, Reiset, Lupin, de l'Aigle, Auguste de Belleyme, deßalleroy, Talleyrand de P£rigord,,Poniatowski, de Miramon, Hottinguer, de Belbeuf, de 'Montreuil, &c— "La Presse."

A domestic used to boil the eggs very well by her master's watch, but one day he could not lend it to her because it was under repair ; so she took Ihe time from the kitchen clock, and the eggs came up nearly raw, ' Why didn't you take the three minutes from the clock as you did from the watch, Mary V — ' Well, sir, I thought that would be too much, as the hands are so much larger.' A pretender to science seriously maintained, one day in company, that the sun aid not make a revolution round the world, either real or apparent; but that, having performed its journey from east to west, it came back again tobe in readiness against morning. ' How is it then,' it was asked, ' that we never see it on its return?' — ' Because the journey is performed by night, 5 he gravely replied.