THE EXPEDITION TO OPOTIKI.

Wellington Independent, Volume XX, Issue 2218, 13 June 1865, Page 5

THE EXPEDITION TO OPOTIKI.

(TaranaJci Aews June 1.) Late files from Auckland brings us intelligence of the result of the attempt to arrest the murderers of the lafce Mr Volkner, and which, we j>ublish in another portion of our columns. There is something at once so humiliating and so ludicrous in the account that the first feeling on perusal is a wish that the Eclipse had never gone to Opotiki on such a mission. It is no wonder that the rebels hold us in contempt when the} 1 " witness such miserable displays of our incapability to execute the law. A cruel and barbarous murder is committed on a man whose very occupation clothes him in the estimation of civilized people with safet} r from even offence, andbefore any actionistaken toevenarresfc the perpetrators that action is taken by the dispatch of one of Her Majesty's war steamers with a full complement of men to the scene of the outrage to arrest and bring to justice the murderers of the unfortunate gentleman. The Eclipse arrived there about eight o'clock in the morning, here a native named Tewai is allowed to go on shore and go up to the settlement; that he was a judiciously chosen j ambassor to effect the object is, we take it, very questionable : however friendly he may have declared himself to the pakeha it is quite evident that he did not stand in much i dread of the Pai Marircs. He returned in I the afternoon, but the report does not say with what reply. About midnight, we are informed, forty-seven men, twelve officers, and Captain Freeman tie, went on shore in four boats with the view of surprising the natives, but, says the account, with admirable simplicity, the attempt to surprise proved a failure. We should think so ; a war steamer (in all probability long expected) makes her appearance at eight o'clock in the morning, and sends a "friendly" native on shore to say what she had come for, to which, he might add how many men and guns she had ; with any other little addition he might choose to make. That Emissary returns in the afternoon. At midnight the party land and, behold, the natives were not only not surprised, but prepared to oppose them. "Of course it was at once seen that the object of the expedition was frustrated, and an immediate retreat was begun." This last passage (the italics are our own) leaves us in an unenviable state of doubt, What was the object ? And how was it frustrated ? We are impressed with thcideathafctheobjectin view was the arrest of the murderers, or if not them, some of those who aided and abetted by resisting. Did a brave officer and a ship's company like Captain Freemantle and his men suppose for a moment that the murderers would give themselves up in a friendly way to be hung. If they did not suppose so foolish a thing, how could Captain Freemantle regard his object as frustrated because he met with that opposition for which, as a wise man, he ought to have beon prepared. If he felt that his force was not sufficient to accomplish his object without seriousl} r sacrificing his men, why did he not take steps to guard against that befoi'c. We do not doubt for one moment that Captain Freemantle, his officers and men are brave as British seamen ever have been ; but we are now dealingwith facts, and they tell us with humiliating plainness, that Captain Freemantle signally failed in accomplishing that which ho undertook, and want of success is the most loudly decried of all errors in irar either of omission or commission. So far the history of this little undertaking is the reverse of brilliant, and if it had ceased there, might have been passed over as simply unfortunate, but the ludicrous part has yet to follow. After going to Ke Haha and thence to Waihou, the Eclipse proceeded to Omaio, where Wiromu Kingi came on board and informed Captain Freemantle that Ephraim, the half-caste, who put the rope round Mr Volkner' s neck, was in the neighborhood. In order to arrest him a new kind of surprise is now designed, and the " friendly" Tiwai and two of the ship's boys, are sent on shore to effect his capture, the latter being clothed with blankets to disguise them as Maories. Nothing can exceed the puerility, the childishness of this manner of a British rnan-of- , war attempting to arrest one single miserable half caste. So little resistance does there appear to have been offered to even this sickly proceeding that Ephraim is reported to have been taken possession of and actually brought part of the way to the beach. It would be no difficult stretch of immagination to picture those four coming down after the style in which the villain in a low melo-drania in a Whitechapel Theatre is led captive across the stage, making desperate efforts to escape ; the melo drama in this case becomes a farce by the captive breaking away from his three custodians. To the chagrin we feel well assured of the " boys," and then the Eclipse steamed back to Auckland ; and so the play ends, and a very pretty performance it is, with the exception of being so expensive to witness.