Auckland

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 8, Issue 457, 30 November 1864, Page 4

Auckland

THE MINISTRY.

The ‘ Herald’ of the 24tli inst., says : Yesterday afternoon Mr. Weld succeeded in forming a' Ministry which' has” been accepted by his Excellency. The programme of the new Ministry is as follows : Col. Secretary, Native Minister and Premier.. Weld. Colonial Treasurer Fitzherbert. Attorney-General Sewell Postmaster-General Major Richardson. Defence. Minister Major Atkinson. We understand that Messrs Whitaker, Fitzgerald, and Ward, were each applied to, but declined to accept office. Mr. Weld, we understand, before taking upon himself to form a Ministry required from Sir George an explicit avowal of his policy and intentions, and, unwilling to trust hri Excellency’s bare word, demanded and recei\ed the avowal in writing. We commend Mr Weld for his prudent foresight, butatthe same time question verymuchif the one will bo considered more binding by his Excellency than the other. The papers now published, and placed in the hands of the members, show that Sir Georgo Grey, who allows himself to be bound by no verbal promise, is equally ready to break through written ones. At any rate the signing of this “treaty” by lii3 Excellency, may enable the Ministry to clear themselves in the eyes of the country and the House on some future occasion, as, even now the late Ministry are able to do by the publication of the papers just issued.

The ‘ New Zealander’ of the same date says :

To-day i 3 “ positively” the day of the General Assembly of New Zealand commencing its session extraordinary in Auckland. We suppose that we may venture to say so much, seeing that no further edict of prorogation has yet gone forth, and it is understood that the new Government is definitely formed. %>

It is not to be expected that any Government which can be f ormed will be perfectly pleasing to all parties ; but surely we may congratulate the co’ony on the accession, at this time, of such a Ministry .as this. It is painful, no doubt, to think that Auckland is unrepresented in the Ministry, and that for the present it might seem that the influence of Aucland is “no where butweneed not indulge in unavailing regrets. Auckland has

been too much identified for a time, in men’s minds, with a section of statesmen from whom Auckland derives no renown ; and Aucklanders must for a time suffer the penalty. Our southern countrymen, however, are actuated by no spirit of enmity towards us, and if they were, they could not take from us our resources—our climate, our land, our mines, our harbors, and ourpeople. Whether &s a separate Colony, or in combination wi h the other Provinces, these natural benefits

of a bountiful Providence must be our main stay and hope. It is stated to be determined on that the seat of Government ahall be removed, as speedily as possible," to Wellington. We may also suppose that the new Cabinet will adopt the Panama contract. As to the peace and war question, we should expect that such a Government as is now supjposed to be formed would seek peace as the desideratum, and be ready for war if a necessity.

THE AMNESTY. From the ‘Southern Cross.’ Does any one believe that the proclamation of the Governor will bring .about a lasting peace ? If he’does he will find himself very greatly mistaken. Peace is as uncertain this day as it was the morning the troops crossed the Maungatawhiri. The natives are unsubdued. They do ,not feel themselves defeated. The six long months of inaction which have followed active operations in the field have obliterated all traces of depression from the native mind, and even before the issue of the proclamation they had begun to regard themselves as victors. That proclamation strengthened this feeling. They looked upon it as a confession of weakness —as a desire, on the Governor’s part, to make peace on the least humiliating terms to the Queen and the British nation that he could induce them to grant. And the haughty savage lias treated the proclamation with contempt. “It is'not worth the paper'it is written 0n.,” is the testimony of those who know the natives well. “It has lowered our prestige in the exs of the natives,” write others “ The natives will not make peace on those terms.”

Sir George Grey has prevented the army taking tie field, and completing the work they were sent here to accomplish. He is exhausting English patience and English pence ; and from all that wo can see to the contrary, lie is determined utterly to ruin the colony, to maintain a large army as an idle demonstration of force, after the Imperial purse-strings are drawn tight against the “lavish expenditure in New Zealand.” Indeed, the main business of the General Assembly, in the coming session, will be to decide this point, namely, whether the}’ will consent to tax themselves to the,extent of three quarters of a million sterling to enable Sir George Grey to keep ten thousand soldiers all the year round in ivint r quarters a 3 a standing menace to the natives, and an occasional pressure upon the settlers. We may safely leave the determination of this problem with the General Assembly, feeling confident that it is in safe hands.

It will be more to the point, howevef, if we state some of the particular circumstances which lead us to the conclusion that peace is not to ; be thought of at present. Our readers will recollect our statement, that To Wheoro and other emissaries had been sent amongst their erring countrymen to prepare them for the gracious conditions of the amnesty. These emissaries met with scant success. In short, their mission was “ a signal failure.” The natives would not trust themselves in the Governor’s clutch, and they would not cede a foot of territory to either Sir George Grey or the General. If they took the land, well and good provided they could keep it ; if not, then the King’s ‘ liiana’ would prevail. In the South, the rejection of the peace proclamation has been most marked.. From Taranaki and Wanganui we learn that it produced anything but a favorable effect. A largo issue of proclamation was made in Taranaki, through the energy of Mr. Commissioner Parris ; but it was all in vain. The natives would not hear of ail}?- terms. When the Commissioner, bearing the Governor’s proclamation, braved death and made his way-into the redoubted William King’s pi, what was his reception ? Was it of a pacific nature ? Most assuredly not. William King summoned Hapurona, his fighting chief, and said, “ That bait has a hook in it for me. Tell the Governor’s messenger to be off”, and let neither pakeha nor native come here again to talk of peace from the Governor.” Mr. Parris got his message, and was off without delay.

At another small settlement south of the Tataraimaka battle-field the indefatigable Commissioner was well received. The natives talked over the matter ; but it was evident they did not “mean business.” They did not want to make peace. At other places, the proclamation was torn in pieces, and contemptuously trampled under foot. “ The Governor and the General are suing for peace ; we will trample them in the earth.” In Wanganui, what ha 3 been the success of the Governor’s proclamation ? Worse than in Taranaki, for it has restrained the military commandant from action. It tied up the hands of those responsible for the peace of the district, and permitted the rebels to do as they pleased. They have forcibly stopped the making of the Waitotara road, through the newly acquired block of that name, purchased by Dr. Feather ston ; and that gentleman, the warm friend and eloquent advocate of the Mayi ra.ee, had to depend upon the fleetness of his horse and his personal courage to escape from assassination. They decline to give up this block, for which they have had a large sum of money a few months ago ; and latest accounts state that the fanatics along the coast were converging for an attack upon Wanganui itself. We. should not be at all surprised to learn by next advices from Wanganui that fighting had recommenced’there. .The “ Pai Marire” delusion lias taken possession of them all, and they are influenced by a fanatical hatred of the white men. They will fight, therefore, to a man against the troops and colonists, in their Bettied determination to drive the pakeha into the sea. Coming nearer our own doors we find that William Thompson, the King-maker, has embraced the new superstition. He is known to have circulated amongst the natives in hia district the “Pai Marire” circulars issued by the heads of the sect at Taranaki. That Thompson is a convert, or has actively allied himself to the fanatics, there can be no doubt. In two letters written by him to Mr. Heale, chief of the surveying party on the newly-acquired land at Tauranga, he concludes his warning not to proceed with the road, by quoting “ Pai Mairire.” The words occur twice m one letter. The facts stated prove that the fanatics have obtained a footing in Waikato, where Thompson can command at least three hundred followers. In hia immediate neighborhood, the Thames natives under Teraia are open to any sudden inspiration, and consider they have a sufficient cause of quarrel with us about the Kaitake block, which the Tauranga natives ceded to the Governor and General. Together, they could muster from four to five hundred men—by no mejtns a contemptible Maori

force, as the events of the campaign abundantly. testify. AH these circumstances go to prove conclusively that peace needj, not be looked for as a consequence of tlio Governor’s proclamation. They don’t regard it. They don’t value it in the least, except as an acknowledgment. of their triumph. They won’t trust themselves in the Governor’s hands. Even the rebels, who broke their parole and are now at large in the north, openly state that they do not believe the Governor’s promises, and that they will not place themselves in his power. They will resist, if he attempts to capture them ; but if their safety, on an overland journey, is guaranteed, they may be indrcxl to go to Waikato. In passing, we may remark that the escaped rebels do not lay claim to the Waikato. They admit that it is gone ; but the Governor has revived their claim, and we would not be surprised if it turned out a second Waitara upon our hands. In conclusion, we may say that we have given a perfectly correct statement of affairs, so far as we can summarise the facts from our correspondence. The prospect is not cheering. The colony has been deluded by vain hopes ; the natives have been goaded into rebel]ion, and then tormented with overtures of peace which they cannot understand, unt’l they have bfcune doubly exasperated against us ; and Sir George is continuing his insane policy, without a lucid interval or a moment’s thought of what the consequence will be. We have done our duty, however, by directing public attention to the struggle which is impending. It is best to prepare for the worst, so that when the day of trial comes it shall not find us defenceless. This is an eventful period for the colony. Will the troops be withdrawn, or will they bo retained 1 And if retained, will they be kept in camp unemployed whilst the Queen’s writ and the Governor’s proclamation ‘ ‘ run away” from every Maori settlement in the island ? If they are so retained and so employed doing-garrison duty, who will pay the “little bill ?” All these are questions worth solving, and, if we mistake not, their solution is not far off.

THE ESCAPED PRISONERS. The Governor has returned from another abortive attempt to persuade the prisoners to trust themselves to his safe keeping. The history of the affair, as it has been related to us, is rather amusing. Y/e do not vouch for the accuracy of all the facts, but we believe our information is very near the truth. It appears that about* a fortnight since Henna ra, of Mahurangi, had an interview with the Colonial Secretary in Auckland, and made some arrangement with him to bring down the prisoners from their stronghold at Omaha, to his place at Mahurangi, when he would immediately l'et the Colonial Secretary know, and a meeting should be arranged between him and' the prisoners. He iutimatd that they were very anxious to see him, and that they were prepared to leave the district on certain guarantees being given them, and other steps taken by Mr. Fox. The Colonial Secretary was on the point of starting for Waikato but arranged with Hemara to go back to the prisoners, fix a time for an interview and return or write to let him know. By that time lie would be back from Waikato and'would lose no time to go and see them.

After Mr. Fox had gone to Waikato his Excellency got scent of the arrangement between Hemara and the Colonial Secretary, by sounding certain officers of the Native Office ; and seeing that there was a strong probability that Mr. Fox would succeed in what his Excellency had failed in doing, he immediately started off for Kawau, in the Falcon. His Excel’e icy then sent off Mr. White to Wangarei, to bring down the chief Tirarau, and other influential natives to help him. Tirarau, who had just returned from Auckland to Wairoa, very much disgusted with his reception by the Governor pleaded “ indisposition,” and refused to come. “ General Cameron,” he said drawing with his finger, “ goes thus (straight) ; “ Te Pokiha (Mr. Fox) goes circle).” So he was “indisposed/’ and did not go to meet the Governor. Mr. White accompanied by Mauihera, Tauran, and other friendly chiefs, then returned to Kawau, were they found the prisoners had gone to Mahurangi, in accordance with the arangement between Hemara and Mr. Fox ; and Mr. White went over to them in the Falcon, which anchored in Puhoi bay. The Governor was on board, but did not go ashore. The discussion with Mr. White on the sea beach lasted about three hours. What took place at that interview we do not know, but we understand that the natives exhibited great distrust of the Governor, and said that they preferred remaining on Hemara’B land to putting themselves into his Excellency’s power even with a pledge that they should go back to Waikato. They agreed to send for those of their number who had gone to Kaipara,—about fifty men at Pa rate Mate’s settlement—and fourteen at Hokianga, and said that on their arrival they would send for Mr.. Fox, to come down and talk to them.

If the task were left in the hands of that gentleman and Mr. White, we suspect they w.ould have no great difficultyin dealing with the prisoners. But the knowledge which the prisoners have of his Excellency’s devices, and particularly the fact that when he sent Major Cooper to them he had two men-of-war and the Sandfly gunboat cruising in the ■gulph, out of sight, ready to pick them up if they tried to cross to Waikato, naturally makes them distrust him. They refer, also, we hear, to the capture (kotiifri) of Rauperaha, in Cooks Straits, and are afraid to give His Excellency the opportunity of trying his craft on them. Four or five of the prisoners went on board the-Falcon, and had an iirerview with the Governor, and that mnnler returned to Auckland with Mr. White, two of them being chiefs from the Uriwera district, and one of them, Piripi te Matewha, cousin of Thompson, and a man of fiome importance amongst the

Ngatihaua tribe. Piripi. has always been a quiet man, of good character, and was formerly employed as teacher in a native school in the Waikato. This was the result of his Excellency’s visit,* when he tried to steal a march upon the Colonial Secretary, and appropriate to himself the credit which would have attached to the successful negociator. But the attempt was a “ signal failure ;” and Sir George 1 Grey has let the curtain drop on another act in the Kawau version of the “ Comedy of Errors,” the rehearsal of which has occ'casionallv amused .the’en'tire colony for the past three months. The escaped prisoners are now at Hemera’s settlement of Puhoi, four miles south of Malm ran gi, It is now come to this, that with 10,000 European troops in the colony, 5,000 colonial troops, and. a squadron of the royal navy, hvo hundred escaped prisoners on the fiat sea-beach, thirty miles from Auckland, without entrenchments, and with only forty .or fifty stand of arms, can neither be persuaded to surrender nor can bis Excellency capture them ! —Southern Cross , Nov. 18.

GRAVES OF HEROES.

(From the ‘ Daily Telegraph.’)

India is a land of • mausoleums and gorgeous funeral monuments, for the mb,st part reared by its Moslem • conqueror . The Hindoo does not thus honour the head-—he'ps content tliat'the place where their ashes are scattered shall be sacred ; or when he has gathered those few grey relics of his greatest or dearest, an urn by some holy river, or a niche within the shadow of a temple of Vishnu or Shiva 'suffices him for their resting place. The memorials of his chiefs and rajahs are to be found in sculptured shrines, wayside resting places for travellers, or groves of the green and refreshing foliage of mango and tamarind. But the Mussulman, who like ourselves buries bis dead, cling like ourselves to the feeling that the spot must not be unmarked. It is a sentiment closely 'connected with the difference in the practice of interment ; those who are wise enough to knew how small a part of the beloved the- body was, , burn it, and remember, not the tomb, but each anniversary of the death, with pious and affectionate celebrations. Those who follow the practice of committing the body unchanged to the earth, cannot forget the place of burial. Their lost one seems to them to be lying there ; it is in our phrase, and in the Arabic also, their “ last resting place find we and the Mussulmans alike linger about the spot in memory, and delight tu deck it with signs which shall designate and consecrate the - locality. Thus it is that India possesses its magui-ficient monumental edifices.. Who has not heard of the Taj Mahal—the tomb of white marble—the alabaster palace of death, which Shah Jehan built above the corpse of his beautiful queen % The tomb has preserved 'the story. Hindoos, Musulmans, and Englishmen alike know the tale of the lovely Nourmahal, who on her death-bed begged of her, lord, the master of India, to rear her a mausoleum more magnificent than any funeral monument in the world and never again to take another queen to his arms. The splendid frabic of marble, cut like lace, and the gorgeous domes roofed with gold and crimson, which show how her dying words were cherished are unrivalled, but nob unimitated, in India. Shah Jehan himself sleeps in a gilded pavilion of pierced alabaster ; and the tomb of the Gooroo Govind in the Punjaub, of the Sultans of Hybradad, and the Mahommedan capita Is are triumphs of the architecture of nations, and proofs of enduring reverence and love which ought to be better known in England, where the same sentiment that inspii-ed them exists. We, like the Mussulman, pay the penalty of being bound to the grave, and what it contains, by our customs. We, like him, have our graveyards with stones, as thick, if not so picturesque, as the carved turbans of a Moslem cemetery, and the slabs wherein the small hole is cut that the little birds may come and drink upon the graves of the faithful

This man, at the most critical period of English history, when that grand ein pi re which fills the world with envy was endangered—when it seemed to hang u; on the superhuman energy of a handful of our counti-ymen —this man was among our very best. All his life had been an apprenticeship of religious examination and silent training for that supreme moment, and when the hour came the man*was ready. He led his Highlanders and " their comrades from Poona, the. capital of the Peishwa, to the other extremity of the peninsula ; he fought and won eleven pitched battles against ■the savage seapoys. He could not save the garrison of Cawnpore ; but he avenged it before the blood of English men and women was dry upon the brink of the dreadful well. His fierce but steady soldiers, with this grey servant of God and his sovereign at their head, pushed on from town to town, battle-field to battle-field, till they came in sight of Lucknow and its beleaguered garrison. There so noble had been, the .conduct of that column, so faultless the generalship of its leader, that Outram, who reinforced him, and might have assumed command, joined Havelock as one of his volunteers, and with him relieved ;the hard-pressed Bailey-guard. But it seems we have something to learn from the Mussulman as well as the Hindoo, both of wliom are before us in their treatment of the dead : the first because he knows how to honour his great men ; the last because even yet wiser, he yil not confound their memory, or that of any who are departed, with a moulder ing carcase—the cast-off garment of the soul. We have spoken of the superb

monuments with which the land of India is covered in record of the great, the lovely, the learned, . and . the . powerful among the conquering race which ' preceded our own. Let\us glance i#,*an English tomb in the same country,, whei ein a far greater and better man than mod; of the Mahometan sages and sovereigns is buried. A traveller lately passed through Oudo ;. on his journey he turned aside to visit the grave of which we spoke. Well worthy-of a visit is the Alumbagh alone, the “garden of the world,” close by Lucknow, were with four thousand men, James Outran! for weeks and months kept an army of trained sepoys at bay, and whence he sallied—-gal--lah test and gentlest of gentlemen—at the head of his squadrons, with a walking stick—his only weapon of battle. But our traveller did not turn from his road to witness the scene where the great Indian mutiny received its real coup de grace. He went to meditate above the grave of a great man, and he found it in the compound of a battered bungalow—the bouse pitted-all over with the .bullets and shot of the fierce struggle—the compound and garden overgrown as only a garden in India can be when the care of the tenant is gone. The earth is a mommer easily consoled everywhere; over the bodies of our noblest it qnicklv brings bright flowers, and laughing growths of grass and clover ; but in the East it forgets tbccleacl.S in a day; and above the tomb, almost before the earth is settled, it begins to throw tangles of. wild weeds and jungle-herbage: So was this grave clothed, hiddenjwith spike grass the wild melon, and the prickly-pear; trampled by luTa’o 'S and the black country sheep, grazed upon by the tattoos of the nearest village ; open to all the vermin of an Indian maidan, the perch of vultures and grey, crows ; piled abont with rotten timber, and the walks of the neglected garden covered with yellow grass. Do our readers know whose body was consigned to this garden in the - Alumbagh ?—whose memory is committed to this mound of half-effaced Indian soil, overgrown with weeds and wild creepers, and abandoned to cattle and creeping things'? "Havelock, or rather all that was mortal, of that good and faithful soldier of England is deposited under that forgotten heap of earth. Havelock’s march , saved Lucknow, and the continued stand at Lucknow made Colin Campbell’s campaign possible; nor,, had this great soldier lived, could any second-rate honours have been offered to the hero of that avenging march through India. 11 Make way for the general." his men shouted out one morning, as he rode down their lines, just then forming. Havelock the Puritan, Havelock the serious soldier, answered with a merry jest, which’the English forget ; “You have made way, my lads,” he answered ; and the laugh that run down the ranks was history. They “ did make way”—they cut a path which ever closed behind them, and ever seemed impassable before them, every koss of the road across India ; and when the braveold man who sustained the “ burden and heat” of that dread day had won the crown off earthly praise and honours, Heaven called him ta a nobler one, and not after all by a soldier’s death. He died in his bed, but on tlie wide Oude plain and under the eanvas of his tent; they laid him were he died. Is it decent that among the very race wliich he subdued a second time inta civilisation—-in the land which his sword, as much as any other, restored to our rule—his grave should be like the grave of a dog? “ The earth,” as Pericles nobly said, “is the grave of great men ;” but the truest side of human nature protests against the stigma brought upon itself by reglect like this, and, for our own sake at least, Havelock’s tomb must de guarded from forgetfulness and sacrilege.

It appears there were 2277 steam vessels registered in the • United Ring do in in or before January Ist, 1884. The amount of registered tonnage was 591,434, andthegross tonnage, 883,034.

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