PROSPECTS OF PACIFICATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume X, Issue 491, 28 December 1861, Page 3

PROSPECTS OF PACIFICATION.

[Prom the 'Auckland Register, Dec. 16.] Atgued by what has been accomplished in the North, coupled with the satisfactory intelligence from Lower Waikato, and the no less gratifying, and apparently well accredited, reports from Upper Waikato, we would fain hope that the Maori difficulty is in a fair way of peoceful solution. This day week his Excellency the Governor, ac.

companied by his Private Secretary, the Colonial Secretary, and others, set out'on a visit to the Lower Waikato. There, we are rejoiced to learn, his Excellency was received with the greatest enthusiasm, his projects for the pacification of the country and the amelioration of the condition of the native race having been greeted in the same spirit as that which it elicited in the Bay of Islands District. Friday and Saturday were to have been passed at the Station of Archdeacon Maunsell, where every demonstration of loyalty from a great native gathering awaited his Excellency. On Saturday morning it was currently and confidently reported, through a variety of trustworthy channels, that the Upper Waikatos had pronounced favourably in respect of Sir George Grey's proposed system of native government, and not only had they sent an urgent invitation to his Excellency to visit them, but that a large war canoe, manned by sixty picked warriors, was to be despatched for his conveyance to Ngaruawahia. We have been further informed that a special messenger sent to William Thompson, and who has just returned, reports that that chief was most favourably disposed towards the Governor's plans, and that the prospects of a happy settlement of past difficulties wote a most hopeful aspect. We have spared no pains to trace these reports to their fountain-head, and from all that we have been enabled to ascertain, they' are invested with so much credibility, •as well as probability, that we should consider it wrong not to give them the publicity they desire. It is said that his Excellency would have been invited at an earlier period were it not that his hosts ire not quite so well provided with the means of entertainment as they were wont to be before war bad impeded their agricultural and commercial progress, We have only to consider the diminished and diminishing supplies of produce from many of the native exporting districts to yield due credence to such a statement, and we know how keenly native pride must revolt from being unable to offer hospitality upon the excessive scale of bygone days. There can be but little doubt that the natives are becoming more and more scant of food, and that with failing stores of corn and other commodities their wealth is diminishing in an equal ratio. Even a native war cannot be carried on without some sort of commissariat, and when' peace is proffered upon terms which cannot fail to be as advantageous to themes beneficial to the Europeans, it seems to be highly probable that the wise and thoughtful of their number may still possess sufficient influence to restrain the -impetuous, and to win over the waverers to their views. This, apparently, is the present aspect of affairs in Upper Waikato; and with the-'Ngapuhis and Lower Waikatos disposed in favour of the pacific system of government proffered for their acceptance, a profound impression can hardly fail to be made even on the most obdurate minds. , • We must caution our readers, however, that these reports, probable as they are and coming, as .they do, from trustworthy sources, have yet to receive the seal of confirmation. A short time will suffice to set the matter at rest. Should they prove unfounded — should the Waikatos persist — as some maintain they will — in rejecting all friendly overtures, then, come what may, His Excellency and His Excellency's Government will at least enjoy the high satisfaction of having left nothing unaU tempted to save .and civilise the tribes. - ~ :