A.—-No. Ib.

The Despatch of the present Governor of New Zealand (of the 30th June, 1868), referred to by Lord Granville, makes fully apparent the extreme cruelty, to both races in that country, of the policy of attempting, by the withdrawal of the troops, to force them to recognize the authority of the Maori King. How that attempt can be called a recommendation I cannot understand. No language could have been more precise than that used in his Lordship's Despatches. The people of New Zealand were told that they were then exposed to great danger from Natives, the task of reducing whom the experience of the last war had conclusively shown Avas beyond their strength. They were reminded that, although there were then troops in the Colony, a few hundred insurgents sufficed to impose a ruinous insecurity on large numbers of settlers, and a ruinous expenditure on the public Treasury. They Avere then told that Lord Granville believed that certain concessions were indispensable,—amongst others, the recognition of the Maori King to the extent his Lordship thought necessary ; and they Avere informed that he knew that these remedies would be distasteful to the people of New Zealand, and that they would not carry them out so long as they were allowed even the prestige of having British troops in the country; and that, therefore, notAvithstanding the dangers to which it was admitted the Colony Avas exposed, the last regiment in New Zealand should be withdrawn from that country at a moment of such peril. I think it is impossible for a more resolute attempt to have been made, by one who was strong, at all hazards to force the Aveak and unfortunate to comply with his Avill. Nor do I think it was possible to use language more likely to embitter bloodthirsty Native fanatics against the European race, and to encourage them to renewed acts of violence against all of either race who clung affectionately to the sovereignty of the Queen of England. No acts could have been conceived more likely to assist such language, than the simultaneous publication of the Despatch containing it and the withdrawal of the last regiment of troops from the Colony. The present Governor of NeAV Zealand, in his Despatch of the 30th June, 1868, states that the present so-called Maori King soon showed himself to be a man of no force of character, and that although some of the leading men of New Zealand at one time thought that a Native Province might have been advantageously created, " all appear to be uoav agreed that the opportunity for any " arrangement of this kind has been lost, and that the Maori King and a chief " named Hakaria are now surrounded by fierce and bloody fanatics, almost resem- " bling their Malay forefathers when running a-muck." What could be anticipated from a Maori King surrounded by fierce and bloody fanatics, to whom all the turbulent spirits and evil men throughout the island looked for any sign for violence, but Avho were powerless for good or for the repression of crime ? The Governor's words, unless great prudence Avas shown, pointed to an inevitable result of sorrow and atrocity, and accordingly in a few weeks —that is, on the Bth of August —he reported that Titokowaru and others had waylaid and murdered a trooper of the Armed Constabulary, and had then cooked his body and eaten it; and after reporting a series of disasters, the Governor at length reports, on the 10th of November, that the most appalling enormities had been committed at Poverty Bay. He stated that Major Biggs, the Resident Magistrate, and the other principal English settlers, were murdered there after a brave resistance, and tortured and mutilated with circumstances of the most revolting cruelty, while their Avives, daughters, and families, after being subjected to atrocities too horrible for description, were burnt to death or hacked in pieces; about twenty faithful Natives were also massacred with circumstances of dreadful cruelty. What Avas the conduct of the followers of the Maori King, after such dreadful atrocities had taken place ? When spoken to on the subject, they expressed no sorrow or regret at what had been done: the dry callous answer was, " What you " consider murders are not murders with us, according to our custom, because, " war having once commenced, the rule is to kill whenever you can." In another letter I will show that this was not the feeling amongst the best men engaged in the revolt. I believe the Imperial Government is much to blame for having discouraged and weakened in the Native mind the noble desire for 22

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AND THE GOVERNOR OE NEW ZEALAND.