Untitled

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 20, 7 June 1845, Page 3

To hi. Excellency Capi. FITZROY, R.N., Governor of New Zealand.

Sir,—4 address you, not for the purpose of setting forth any particular grievance which may have resulted from your past acts, nor to suggest any alteration or adoption of principles which might appear conducive or necessary to the public good, but from the conviction that by partiality and bad government you have reduced to a crisis of misfortune a colony which you found prospering, so rendering i

... ~ , —, „.,,,. , T7=r _. a public duty incumbent on all whom you govern to make known to you their censure and dissatisfaction. The sentiments expressed in this letter are those of ninety-nine hundredths of the white population of these districts.

Surrounded as you are, at your seat of government, by a circle of dependents, who see in you the only remaining instrument for the furtherance of their schemes, and who, when you are sometimes awakened to a knowledge of the disastrous state of things around, are ever at hand to seize such opporttnities and assure you that the temporary difficulty may be surmounted by continued adhesion to their policy, and by such means alone ; with such creatures for your councillors—who most resemble the parasite of our forests, Which, attaching itself to a tree o. superior magnitude, gradually so envelops and chokes it, that the distorted and encumbered stem yields to tbe superincumbent load and withers, while the creeper, which has attained .an elevation by its destruction, grasps at some other support, which it finally likewise destroys—with such sycophants around, keeping from you the knowledge of the true position of those whom you govern, or soothing your occasional distrust in their infallibility, it is necessary that you should have pointed out to you the malign influence of your misdoings, and be assured, if still you can doubt it, that your remaining in your government is prejudicial to those whom you rule.

Ere your arrival in New Zealand, upon your appointment to its government being known, the people looked upon the event as one which promised good. Your connexion with a highly successful and useful discovery expedition was called to mind, and it was known that you were an officer of scientific acquirements and ability. Now, at last, we thought, we shall have an energetic and able ruler, one who will act according to his own judgment, and not allow himself, as his predecessors did, to be guided by shallow and interested office-bearers;-

You came. The Massacre of the Wairau was awaiting a judicial investigation. The settlement of the question, which had long been pending, as to whether the outrages committed so often by the natives rendered them amenable to English law ; justice to the memory of those who had been murdered, as also to the survivors, both having been assailed by the sinister aspersions of the protectors ; and the necessity of convincing the natives that the British Government would watch over the lives of its subjects; these, as well as the voice cf 6,000 British settlers, demanded a judicial investigation, and had you then instituted one, and rendered justice to whom it was due, you would have commanded the respect of the natives instead of becoming the object of their ridicule, and h-tve caused the settlers to believe that, whatever bias towards the natives you might possess, your future government would be actuated by the principle of adhesion to right between man and man.

The manner, sir, in which you got over that affair, so inconvenient to yourself, is "an old tale, and often told," but is one which will not fade from our remembrance or cease to be adduced against you. Time has not rendered the injustice less conspicuous, and the opinions which were then expressed upon the course you pursued are now expressed with more feeling and with more determination.

Your policy was easy to carry out, doubtless! and perfectly satisfactory to tbe protectors as being their own; but conviction of its injustice must raukle with you. And now, when the consummation and effect of that policy are bearing dreadful evidence against you, it is uot to be wondered that you should have, as you acknowledge, moments of intense anxiety, iv which, by seeking the assistance of such a man as the chief protector, and listening to his soothing approval and comforting encouragement, you obtain more comfort than you would in the council of any other five of your officers —ay, or of any other fifty!

To such a course of procedure you were not compelled by instructions from England. You acted on your own responsibility, if in such a safe and easy course there was any responsibility. You knew that the party by whom you had been chosen would uphold you in any such policy, and were sure that it would attach to you the Protectorate and Missionary interest here; and you thought, so soon as the temporary excitement died away the southern settlers would cease to be clamourous against you. But is it so? It is "an old tale," but it will become older ere it is forgotten, and be the oftener told, its echo ringing around you in a demand for Justice! Justice! Justice !

[Want of space compells us to delay the remainder of the letter till Wednesday.]

[To be continued.2

THE MILITARY CATECHISM, FOR THE USE OF YOUNG OFFICERS AND SERGEANTS OF INFANTRY, MILITIA REGIMENTS, AND VOLUNTEER CORPS : ADAPTED TO THE NEW SYSTEM OF DRILL,AS REVISED BY THE BOARD OF OFFICERS, IN 1833. QUESTIOiSS TO OFFICERS COMMANDING COMPANIES, WITH THEIR ANSWERS. (Continued from our last.) Q. —41. If the Battalion in Line changes position on a named Company, (suppose the Grenadiers,) by the flank inarch of Divisions, and you command No. 1 Battalion Company*. A. —I lead my company to the covering sergeant of the Grenadiers, who marks the distance of his company. The officer next to me leads his company upon my covering sergeant, who marks the distance of my division, and so on. Thus every coverer is responsible.for the distance of his own company. Q. — 42. If the leading flank of a column (suppose right in front) is changed, by the successive march of divisions from the rear to the front, and you command the rear division. A.—On the caution, I give the word " Right face, Quick march," and as soon as my Left flank can freely pa's the Right flank of the companies in column, I give the word V Front turn," and remain on the Inward Flank of my company until clear of the front of the column, when I change to the proper Pivot. As soon as my company approaches the one in its front, the leader of that company proceeds in the same manner,- and so on. Q. —43. When it is required to change the wings of an open, half, or quarter distance column, and you command the rear division. A.—On the caution, I give the word " Inwards face, by Files from the centre; " and when my company has cleared the centre of the leading division, I give the word " Form ' Company, Forward." During the advance of my company by double files, I place myself on that flank of the leading files which will become the Pivot | Flank when I give the word " Form Compa- 1 ny." When you command any other division, ' what do you do ? I On the word, " Two centre sections out- ; wards wheel," I place myself in front of the ' third section from me. ( Q. —44. The Battalion from line forms , column (suppose right in front) on a named i company, and you command that company. A.—l shift to my left flank (the proper i Pivot,) to give a point upon which the com- \ panics marching into column may cover. If ( left in front I remain on the right. i Q.—45. What is the rule for officers to * change their flanks ? ! A.—ln Column, when not on the march, , the Officers change their flanks by the front i of their companies; the sergeants by the '' rear. ' In Line, always by the rear, except when j they close their companies to a flank by the < side-step. In that case they change by their ' front, but return by the rear ; also, when forming close column from centre. Q. —4G. If you command one of the com- '. panics filing into column right in front. A.--I place myself on the inner flank of ; the leading file, and disengage with it. I conduct my company to the covering Sergeant, when I halt in my own person, allowing it to pass in his rear until the left has cleared him, when I give the word " Halt, Front, Dress," and fall in at once on the left of my company. If Left in front. The same as above, except that the Right being the Pivot, I lead my company to where its right is to rest, and give the word " Halt, Front, Dress," one pace before it reaches the covering sergeant. Q.—47. If they move into quarter, half, or open distance column, right in front, by sections of threes. A.—lf next to the Company formed upon, the leading section of threes wheels on its centre, so as lo disengage to the rear, and the other sections wheel on their flank flies. I fall in on the inner flank of my leading section of threes, halt in my own person when I reach my covering sergeant, and when the front rank of the rear section of threes clears him, I give the word " Threes, Right shoulders forward, Halt, dress." N.B.—Should, however, pivots be required to be very accurately dressed, or the alignment retained, the Commander will give " Threes on the right (or left) backward wheel, quick march ; " and when the wheel is completed, I give the word " Halt, dress; " and when they move into cclumn, I do as above directed. • If left in front. The same as above, except that the right

being the pivot, I lead the company into column, and give the word "Threes, Right shoulders forward, Halt, dress," when my leading section has arrived within its wheeling distance of the covering sergeant.

Q. —48. The column is closed to the front to close order. >

A.—l take care to cover correctly while on the march, and halt my company one pace from tbe rear rank of the company, in front of mine.

{To be continued in our next.J