The Evening Herald. MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1869.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 567, 29 March 1869, Page 2

The Evening Herald. MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1869.

Titokowartj has by a precipitous and disorderly retreat, virtually admitted defeat, and our reconquest of the country he overran. He is now igsuppbsed to be at Ngatimaru on the *upper WaitaraV 1 Our correspondent mentions 4n his fetter that some neutral natives at Te Ng'aire reported that Tito had g-one on to Te Ng-utu-o-te Maou. Head quarters were removed to Waihi yesterday, and today, it is probable thp forces will be

marched to Te Ngutu. The enemy will probably not make a stand there, for he is evidently cowed, and afraid of meeting- our force on any terms. Our correspondent, is of opinion that a portion of the force will be despatched to Tauranga, just sufficient being- left here to prevent any concentration, and offensive movement of the rebels- But an account has yet to be given of the enem}\and this is the time to crush him. Left bow in security to recruit his •strength, he will be prepared for another campaign in two or three months, precisely as Te Kooti is, ■although he was thought to have been rendered powerless for the future by his severe loss ax Ng'acana. Maoris have a recuperative energy, moral and physical, far beyond that of most people, either civilised or bnrbarian. Wounds will heal with them, that are fatal to the white race ; and the moral effect of a defeat, great though it be at the time, is soon lost. It is therefore necessary to a permament peace, to carry on the war almost to extermination, before opening negociations, which geneTally end in placing the Colonists at; a, disadvantage; for they have everything to lose by a breach of the compact, while the Maoris have hardly •anything-. We hope, even if Tito be not found at Te Ngutu, that Col. Whitmore will not think the task of 'destroying him utterly hopeless, and 'consequently relax his efforts—which' hitherto have been sustained, and command our admiration—to come up "with him, and render such an account as will give the settlers confidence to go back on their land. The expediency of the present is of no moment compared to the consequences of the future. Chronic rei>elliqu or permament peace—which will the Colony have ? The'election is with itself, for either will follow as tlljg consequent of the policy adopted by the Government.

« MASTERLY RETREAT.'"' We are beginning- to weary of Tito Kowaru's iC masterly retreats" in the Times. Granted, to begin with, that they are so, and that it is chivalrous to recognise military merit in our bitterest and most- blood-thirsty enemies, is it patriotic to confine our admiration to their performances and to exhaust repetition and trum-peting-of their achievements? But we cannot understand what constitutes a masterly retreat, if a downright bolt from a strong- position carefully prepared for defence, with ten times the force which Europeans would assig-n for its g-arrison, after a few hours' skirmishing-, constitutes a "masterly" retreat. Still less can we understand how the flig-ht from Otauto, after a combat of an hour or so with equal numbers directly the . position was cleared of the mist, can he looked upon with admiration. Tito Kowaru has been driven from T'aurano'alka to Te Ngaire in about half the time he took to march there. Indeed, he was attacked on the Patea on the 14th at. Otauto, and our troops reached Te Ngaire in pursuit on the 22nd March. The delay in following-him up from Taurang-a Ikawas occasioned by many circumstances, A native force was required to furnish g-uides and to teach our raw recruits how to get about in the bush. Perhaps the Times better than anybody else can tell how ifc | happened that the knpapas were de- | layed ; at all events, they made no | secret of the reason. Tito Kowaru j has now bolted in so precipitous a manner that all we can compliment him upon is his speed of foot. He has left everything- he possessed down to his food and clothing-. He has been reduced to eating' matai mag-g-ots for food, and has been compelled three times in one day to leave his j camp. His wounded are left in the ! bush, and though few of his men ■ comparatively have been killed, still \ more are discovered to have fallen ! I than was known before from cor- j respondence, picked up at Te ■, \ ]\ Tg-aire and' other places. -New | . Zealand suffers from this native \ I war, which it is hard to stamp out ] with the force it can afford to employ ; j I but that the troops should have to j encounter afar greater hostility from j \ political opponents of the Ministry of j the day than from the enemy, is a humiliating circumstance in our history. Our officers and men serve j the country; not faiy particular Ministry, but every Ministry. All. this poetical element is out of place in treating' of military events. It discourages all ranks that their services, arduous as they have been, should be so disparagingly spoken of, and it lowers the status of the colony beyond its own limits, where more weight is put on the revilings of our patriotic(?) journals than we do here. "What constitutes a masterly retreat? Perhaps to extricate an inferior force from a bad position where numbers tell, and to draw off without loss of men or morale. Titokowaru had 400 men at Otauto in his own bush and in an excellent position. He ran away from that place directly it was light, and left even'thing- he most required even for food—next day he crossed the Patea at the gorge, a most frightful place to get down and up. His commissariat being- so scantily supplied, he had to live two clays on Pitau and Kikau. Pie then reached Whakamaraand supplies, but before he had time to collect what he wanted for his march, had to bolt again, leaving- several hundred swags of potatoes behind. Thence to Te Kgaire his flight has been so rapid that it leaves it only to be wondere d at that our troops should have kept so close at his heels, and from the day of Otauto the force pursuing- has been considerably' less than his own. Thank goodness, though we aro not proud of our retreats from Te Ngntu, we have never yet owed our safety to our heels, and if that is the only kind of" masterly" movement the Times , can understand, it should publish at the head of its columns that " This paper only admires those who run away the fastest."