Auckland Times. SATURDAY, 12th July, 1845. BAY OF ISLANDS.

Auckland Times, Volume 3, Issue 131, 12 July 1845, Page 2

Auckland Times. SATURDAY, 12th July, 1845. BAY OF ISLANDS.

By the Velocity, which arrived on Wednesday morning with 25 of the \v< nnded men, we have received further intelligence respeciing the late disastrous affair at the Bay of Islands. All the information we have been able to obtain has only tended to confirm the accuracy of the previous state-'

ment, as to the butciierv of the pris; ) oners by the Natives;-In addition, dj which we are now wei! apprised ofßtpe re-enactment, on the persons of ou?> unfortunate fellow-countrymen, of those savage barbarities which it bhs so long been the vaunt of Zealand Missionaries had ceased to characterise the later warfare of' the natives of these Islands Captain Grant, of the Grenadier Company of j the 53th Regiment, has fallen into th&J (lands of these precious proselytes, \ who have consummated their victory j over British troops by feasting on the j body of their fallen leader! One \ wretched man, who was taken alive,'| was tortured at the stake, after a fashion which ccs's into the shade tIA horrors of an Auto dc fe or the atrocy *’ ’ ' ’ Jielr p.Esop. y.. (

My or iff Amducan Thumbs. The uecM bodies, with the exception of Captain Grant's, have since been thrown over the palisades; many of them were much mutilated, and parts of some appeared to have been burned. The Forces were to fali back upon Waimate on Wednesday, the 9th, sickness having begun to exhibit itself among the men. Fears are entertained that the Long Gun from the Hazard could not be brought away from before the Pah, and must therefore be abandoned. We hope that, if it cannot be recovered, something may be done to render it useless to the rebels, into whose hands it is certain to fall. We understand that some Chief’s wife, of Waka’s party, was killed in the attack which was made upon our position in the morning, before the assauT; this has tended to increase the animosity be tween Waka and the rebels, and has been the means of bringing over 200 or 300 allies to the force of the former who, we hear, has assured the Governor of his determination to maintain bis opposition to the Rebels to the las*. It is to be hoped, that the eyes < f Captain Fitzroy are now opened tj> the true nature of the man in waomlil' lias been so grievously mistaken, and to the fallacy of the counsels of those insidious advisers by whom he has been so seriously—we might say, wilfully muled.

We believe that Captain Fitzroy's credence in the amiability of the natives of this country, amounts to a positive monomania, but we trust that the startling occurrences of the last fortnight, will show him the fiightful iealities of the Native character, in their tiue proportions and colours and convince him of the real weakness of the “ broken reed" —(we mean the Missionaries and Protectors) —on which he has so fondly and pertina ciously relied for succour and support in the present momentous crisis. Let it be remembered, that John Heki, by whose followers, and under whose directions have been perpetrated the atrocities to which we have alluded above, is a Baptised Christian!—a proselyte of the Venerable Archdeacon Williams!!!

“ The Devil can cite Scrip‘ure to his purpose," and we are credibly informed, that this savage cannibal daii y p eVtor hi' s''fee IT or ri b*einasp he L: T of reading to his followers, the proverb r 5 i of our Oiiur'ch, which her unworthy Ministers have taught him thus to desecra" e.

Yet there are not wanting men, cal ing themselves Minis.ers of the Gospel of Peace, who can style this man * of a noble nature ! —** A generous enemy !!” Out upon such cant.

Mr. O’Connell, Aide de camp to his father, the Commander in chief in New South Wales, proceeds to Sydney, in the Velocity, with despatches for Sir George Gipps, and ve trust his repre sentations will procure as many more troops as can be spared- some he a vier artillery and if possible, a steamer. Communicated

I We take up our pen with a reluctant ■hand, and smely a most heavy heart, \ to record the proceedings of the recent v warfare at the Bay, In olden times (what do we say), but in our early days, we were accustomed to receive reproof from high quarters, because we would not give flattering reports of the Colony—but we have always quietly referred to our motto, and endeavoured to abide by ,the truth ~We shall do so still. And we have now a sad tale to tell; we shrink from the task of detail, and yet it must be performed. Instead of fifty killed and wounded, in the recent conflict as we reported last week,the Go vernment report now makes the num« her at least double. Equal to one xarter of the whole force, and we are ~v sorry that the returns of Govern- t

ment miot Aiimon, b. ; - JA 1 ' %, ns at present to publish the names of the sufferers. We should not be doing our duty as a public: journalist, if we were to pass over the recent events, without observation, for the noble conduct of both branches of our public service, is deserving of the highest praise, in exact proportion, as the colonial management of our government, is deserving of reprobation. There can be nothing but horror, disgust and regret, in looking back upon the recent events, all nurtured into usage by the follies which the Government have especially patronised ; it would almost break the heart of any reasonable or sensible man, to think of the rhapsody of the Governor, in which he declared that he would cut off his right hand rather than abandon his favourite system of protectorate practice, and see now how easily he abandons Ids principle, and yet how inefficiently he carries out his purpose. The Nelson Examiner may well ask, “ is this a man in whose hands our destinies are to be placed?” It would be cruel and ungrateful to say any thing in | disparagement of the troops at the JMv tjieir conduct in every branch of the service, has evinced tide most determined courage and devoted patriotism, but if we might be allowed to express our opinion in these matters we would say that the Maori power, j physical, as well as moral, has been undervalued, and it were better to abstain from future attack till by the certainty of increased power, victory might be ensured. The sole cause of all the Maori provocation and resistance She only reason of any warfare between he two races lias been the childish policy which pretended a preference for the Native race, but which in reality sought only a profit from their re sources.

There was in all this, a fine superstructure, but the greedy and avaricious builders of it have pulled the superstructure down upon their own heads. Every practical man will now enquire what is best to be done; it would seem to sensible people, that a continued attack upon Belas pah in the present unfavourable weather, and with our own inefficient means is but exposing most valuable life to certain deo , sanction, without any probability of oSHiilt rus it.L

An oversight has already been made apparent in undervaluing the capabilities of the savages- an oversight only surpassed by the presumption of the* Missionaries and protectors, who have taught us to believe teat the can nib a' and ferocious peop’e into whose muds so many of our countrymen have faiien, had become civilized by the medium'of their interested practice it is a bold thing to sar, but we make the accusation in conscious integrity, that the great aggregate of all tne mischief that has occurred in New Zealand may be laid at the door of the protectorate establishment, and we do sincerely believe in this most critical position" of the Colony that nothing could be so wisely or so energetically

devised for the good of the country as a solicitation to Captain Fitzroy, that be like a recent delinquent, would be kind enough to relieve us of bis presence, his purposes, and bis perpetrations.

New Zealand restored to her un* controuled childhood may live aud flourish in unbroken harmony, but the half-made measures of Captain Fitzroy and his masters destroy, at every step, every prospect of cultivation and improvement We conceive that our correspondence, and other articles in this paper, will be sufficiently convincing of tite reality of the native character, and that the brutalities we are obliged to put upon record will shame the hypocricy of Exeter Hall and the spurious humanity of Captain Fitzroy out of the field.

. May we yernind Capta: n Fitzroy o' an old fat. A, in vvffibtrV fly sat'upon, the horns of a bullock, and fancied that the team was going only for his own amusement; repeatedly desiring the driver to accelerate the speed, till at last he was whipped away by a whisk of the cow-taii and there was an end of his importance. So it will be with our Governor.