Nation Making

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 33, 16 August 1890, Page 2

Nation Making

A STORY OF

NEW ZEALAND SAY AGEISM & CIVILIZATIONj

By

J. C. FIRTH,

AUTHOR ok “LUCK” AND “OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA.’ Chapter XIX. A NEW DEPARTURE. England abandons New Zealand—Fierce struggle between colonists and Maoris—Able measures of the Hon. John Bryce Influence in making the nation—Ancient Briton and modern Maori contrasted—lnfluence of language—lrish Celt not a nation-maker—Home Rule—Suggestions for settling the Irish difficulty.

f* ve y ears of war, notwithstanjlE ' rl K the wise and urgent protests by •yigjjy Governor Sir George Grey against /jS&wS 3 the removal of all the troops, Engq land retired from New Zealand. ■ | 3 Every British soldier was withdrawn. 3 The proud beat of the English drum 3 was heard no more in the land, and »*- <—l— j the ‘ red cross banner ’ was left to be a a dragged in the dust by exultant savages, or to be defended by the abandoned and unaided colonists. The policy of the ‘ Manchester school ’ had triumphed, and the colony was left to its fate. Massacres and the burning of villages followed. The colonists were dominated by hostile bands of armed Maoris. Battles on the East Coast, battles on the West Coast continually occurred, victory incliningsometimesto the colonists, sometimes to the Maoris, until at length, after twenty years ■of desultory ami bloody warfare, under the gallant leadership of Colonel Sir George Whitmore, and under the able measures of the Hon. John Bryce, the colonists finally triumphed. So fierce have been the struggles between the white man and the Maori, so prolonged the contest—a contest so distinguished by valiant deeds by both races, so innumerable the gallant attacks, so memorable the defences, equally gallant in fortress, forest and ravine, that the colony is eloquent with the heroic story of dusky warriors gallantly defending their country, of colonists as gallantly fighting for their homes, that now, when the 1 >ng struggle is ended, and the Queen’s writ runs everywhere, colonist and Maori, the victor and the vanquished, regard each other, not as tyrant and slave, but with that mutual resnect which brave men feel for ‘ foemen worthy of their steel. ’

In the halo of romance which time throws round such a contest we have one element in the work of nation-making, which for centuries to come will leave its marks on the character of the future New Zealand nation. New Zealand colonists have the further advantage of living side by side with a race very similartoour ancestorsas Caisar found them when he invaded Britain. Results very different have followed the two conquests. In the one the vanquished absorbed the victors ; in the other the vanquished are fading away. Their reed-made dwellings, like their communist system of social life, contained elements fatal to a •continued existence, and except the numerous earthwork fortifications, the Maori will hardly leave a trace behind. In a few generations a white descendant of some Maori princess may still be marked by the survival of the pYoud lip, or the soft, pensive black eye of the Maori, and may boast of his descent as an English noble of to-day would boast if the blood of the patriotic Boadicea lan in Ins veins, more than if he could trace a lineal descent from the robber William the Norman. The Maoris are the Celts of the Pacific. Some points in their story are not without interest in discussing the Irish question now agitating the English-speaking race, as may be seen in the subsequent portion of this chapter. We English people call ourselves Anglo-Saxons. Nevertheless, the chief strain in our blood is not Teutonic, ’out Celtic. Looking at the fact that Ca'sar found Britain well populated, and that after the first century of Roman occupation comparative peace reigned over a large area during the three fidlowing centuries of Roman rule, there can be little doubt that the Britons had so greatly increased in numbers that the Saxon invaders, in their small vessels, could not possibly have crossed the stormy North Sea in such numbers as greatly to increase the population. Yet in the reign of Alfred the Great, Britain had become Saxon in laws, government, and language. The Celtic language, as a language, hail disap]>eared. A few words remained. A few still remain. But the Celtic blood formed, as it still forms, the largest strain in the blood of the English nation. The strong imagination peculiar to the Celtic race, together with their partially civilized condition, were the chief reasons why the Britons yielded to the fierce hard-headed Viking. These sea rovers had little to loose and much to gain, and were valiant accordingly. The imaginative Britons, softened and enriched by the Roman occupation ot their country, fell, though not without many struggles, under the dominant force of the savage Saxon pirates. The Danes followed the Saxons. But though the vigorous Danish blood added some strong elements to the blood of the English nation, the Danish migration could not have greatly altered the proportion between Celt and Teuton in the ]M>pulation of Eingland. In the middle of the eleventh century jiersonal freedom And a crude form of self-government had become practically

the prominent features of what we call Saxon England. The imagination of the Celt had been tempered and balanced by the cold, hard, staying power of the Teutonic nature, anil thus we have the foundation of the English character as we now know it.

The Celtic Briton, happily for his descendants, had been conquered, his imagination tempered, his language lost, but lie himself remained, and remains, the Englishman of to-day. The Irish Celt, unhappily for himself, has never been conquered. A true hero worshipper, he has never met with a hero. He retains the imagination of his ancestors, and is therefore more loyal to the Church of Rome than any other raee. The Irishman of to-day largely retains his Jove for the Celtic tongue. These three—in the absence even of social progress—make his patriotism at least a poetic dream, if not a political hope. To these conditions we owe the Irishman of our times, who is as gallant, as lomantic, as clannish, as turbulent and as thriftless (in his own country) as his Celtic ancestor of centuries ago. He-is not a nation-makei, and if he runs on his present lines he never will be. It is only when Irishmen are removed from their surroundings, when their Celtic tendencies are modified by contact with stronger, harder influences and natures, that Irishmen become the generals, the statesmen, and the administrators who have played so great a part in building up the British nation. Pity that such a splendid raw material as the Irish nature offers cannot be more perfectly utilised —that such a love of country cannot be turned into channels more likely to benefit Ireland and the empire. Idleness and improvidence are not to be eradicated by an Irish Parliament. Nor are industry and enterprise to be developed by boycotting and Land Leagues. Ireland is like a pilgrim with a pea in his shoe, who makes no progress himself, and annoys his neighbours by his outcries. If a policy of Home Rule can be devised which will not ruin Ireland by separating it from*England, it ought to be adopted. If by a system of County Government, or Provincial Government, or by any other system, the attention, of the Irish people can be diverted from the absorbing devotion to a grievance, real or fancied, and fi xcd on such realities as personal progress, steady industry, more comfortable homes, a better system of farming, the establishment of manufactories—if by these means Irishmen can be taught to be more self-dependent, to be less dependent on orators and governments—the Irish difficulty will be removed. Nation-making in Ireland by conquest has failed. The only conquest now possible is not by force of arms, but by the arts of peace, and by assimilation. When the Irish landed estates are occupied by small freeholders, nationmaking in Ireland will have made a decisive forward movement. Out of his own country an Irishman is a better soldier, a better farmer, a better man than in it. Under the coming changes, aided by a migration of English and Scotch settlers, the assimilative force will come into action. Then Ireland will become, what she has not been for seven hundred years, a prosperous nation. The Irish people is a high-spirited race. It manifests no signs of decay; it is a close neighbour to a kindred and powerful nation ; the Celtic language is disappearing, and there is no question of colour. These are all factors for a peaceful adjustment. Not martial law, not assassination, but good-will and the fullest recognition of a community of interest between England and Ireland, will solve forever the Irish enigma. (TO BE CONTINUED.)