THE ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 18, 19 August 1843, Page 2

THE ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND.

There is perhaps no subject connected with New Zealand which has been more misrepresented,- oc which is less understood,

people, had assumed at some period a now \ character, and instead of boing merely contented to live under the laws and protection of the pcoplo they had thus como to dwell i with,, had asserted a right to make laws, and to impose ponalties. upon the said peoplo, whose power and rights they insisted upon limiting and restricting, prohibiting them from disposing of any land or other property, excepting in such manner as they choose to prescribe. Add to all this, another strange circumstance, namely, that these strangers themselves, wero one opposed to the other ; perhaps exceedingly harsh and unjust, disputing about rights and properties fairly purchased from the natives ; yea, wresting lands from one another, under the rediculous plea that some of them had cheated the said inhabitants (which they aro convinced no man could do) together with a hundred other things, too tedious to enumerate We shall j in so doing, form some estimate of the condition of tho Europeans and natives in ro1 gard to one another, and pcx-haps be a little more generous in the judgement we pass upon tho character of the latter. [ No person can for one moment, in calmly reviewing our intercourse with tho natives of this colony, come to any other conclusion than that they are on the whole, a people of 'superior understanding and intellect, possessed, with some exceptions, of a fair ap- ! prehension of right and wrong in the ordi- ( nary transactions of life ; keenly alive to thoir own interests, and obstinately bout upon the maintenance of their liberty and rights ; but possessed at tho same time of !an extraordinary amount of patience and forbearance. 1 Tho natives of New Zealand are doubtless not altogether freo from many of the ordinary sins and crimes of other men ; but until their habits were destroyed and changed by tho childish and foolish policy of this government, they had, generally speaking. in most of their quarrels with Europeans, in tho first instance, tho right upon their side. Even in the late Weiroa massacre, from all that wo could ascertain, tho Europeans and agents of tho government wero to blame, as is more than evident from the manner in which the whole transaction has been attempted to be glossed over. Why, we would ask our late correspondent, Dr. Monro, the apologist of this government, and of the Port Nicholson Company, has no Coroner's Inquest been held upon the bodies of our imprudent, but slaughtered countrymen ? How can this government face the indignation of their countrymen at home, when they hear that the bodies of nineteen British subjects have been flung together in one grave, like so many carcases of animals, without a legal enquiry as to the cause of their death. Dr. Monro is a magistrate of this colony, and as such, was bound to sco that a legal investigation should take place. How can ho or any man pretend, without legal evidence to say that the natives were in tho wrong? Where is the report of tho Coroner ? Are we under English laws, and shall nineteen of our countrymen lie doad and buried in one pit without a legal investigation into tho cause of their death ? We hear much about tho accoimts of Magistrates and Police Magistrates in this affair — depositions havo been taken and published by unauthorized persons, but we have in vain looked for tho Coroner's report — it is not. — Is there not a Coroner at Port Nicholson ? Yes, wo pay his salary, but, like all the officers appointed by Mr. Shortland, wo suppose he attends to every thing else but his own duty ; nineteen Englishmen have been killed, it may be murdered, before his eyes, but neither he nor Mr. Shortland, the officer administering this Government, will take any legal notice of it. Shall not the Homo Government demand the Coroner's record of the blood of thoir countrymen at the hands of Mr. Shortland ? We have on a former accasion demanded a similar melancholy enquiry regarding the bodies of some murdered natives, but Mr. Shortland as Colonial Secretary denied it. We now in the name of English law, in the name of humanity demand of Mr. Shortland as Governor to enquire according to English law into the cause of the death or murder of nineteen Englishmen — and we publish in condemnation of him, his officers and magistrates, that it has been neglected. It is well for Dr. Monro and the other magistrates appointed by Mr. Shortland to breathe fire, fury and destruction upon the natives, but let them in the first place justify their own conduct before a British public, and prove by law that the natives wero in the wrong. We aro aware that we aye by many persons accused of jiartiality towards the natives, but we ask nothing whatever for them beyond that which the law of nature and that of our country entitle them to. Wo wish not to screen the native or to gloss over his faults, we know it is merciful to punish him for his offences when he is in the wrong, but it is neither merciful nor just to imposo upon him the penalties of English law without confering upon him at the same time its privileges ;

if he is subject to our criminal code, let him have the advantage of our civil laws and civil rights. — Wo complain not of this Government because they punish tho natives when they are in tho wrong, but we complain of the unaccountable, uncertain, capricious and incomprehensible manner in which the lav is administered. One day we hear of a native being hanged for murder, and incarcerated for felony, the next day we hear of felonies and murders committed by natives against one another and against Europeans, and no notice whatever is taken of them, — Europeans are at one timo imprisoned if they dare even in self-defence to lift a finger against a native, and the effects of Europeans are sold by order of the sheriff at the instance of a native ; — but at the same moment felonies are committed, murders are perpetrated, and the lives and properties of Europeans are destroyed by-natives, and no notice is taken of tho matter. The natives become indebted to Europeans, and when the law is appealed to for the recovery of such debts, we are informed that the Judges have no power to act. This is tho cursed anomaly which we seek to remove. Let us- know what we are about, and how we are to treat the natives, and we shall be satisfied. Wo want this government to place native and European upon a fair footing ; nothing else will satisfy the native. Nothing else will bring peace to our country, and nothing elso will put an end to, felony, arson, murder and niassacre. Tho natives of New Zealand are neither cruel nor unjust, but they have an intellect and a sense of right, which will never subI mit to degradation and slavery. [ Reports injurious to their character and ito this colony, are industriously circulated by the Port Nicholson Company, and bj other interested persons, which are eagerly laid hold of by the Sydney papers, and by all those who wish to injure this colony; whereby the natives are represented as being unreasonable, fierce, and savage, and unsafe to live among. To the truth of all theso : statements wo give our most unqualified^ denial. We havo lived in this country J when British law and authority were un- ( known. We havo travelled alono with tho natives, and among tho natives, t wo hayo 1 found them rational, at times keen and over- ■ reaching, but more often attentive, kind and considerate ; and notwithstanding tho Wei- 3 roa massacre, and all the tales of cruelty 1 that have been industriously circulated, and l notwithstanding the great benefits promised 3 from the protection of our native government, ' wo must say, that wo would not only feel "* perfectly secure among tho natives without * the latter, but that if it continue to be ad- 1 ministered as it has been heretofore, and* that we wero destined to live in New Zca- C land, wo should prefer the just and primitive* government of the natives themselves ; w) c could understand tho principles of the one,?! but those of the latter are a mystery ; thej* are, and they are not, and so far solvo 3? paradox. *! As we havo repeatedly asserted, we agaiC state that nothing but tho complete eman-P cipation of tho natives will ever bring peacir to this country. Tho soldiers of England 0 may kill and destroy the natives, but the? power of England cannot enslave them. So 01 long as intellect can influence tho conduci ! of men, so long will the New Zealander*,, oppose tho horrid doctrine that extende^, civilization must necessarily destroy th£V aborigines of all countries, and of our colonies in particular.

both at home and in the neighbouring colonies than the character and disposition of tho native population of this country. Tho word native, in connection with all our colonies, is associated in the minds of many with every thing that is fierce, treacherous, and cruel, a being not only inferior in intellect, but entirely devoid of all moral feeling ; something bearing the human form, but in mockery of tho heart and intellect of man ; a creature in short, fit and destined to live upon the earth while the convenience of extended civilization may comfortably choose to permit, and merely tolerated, until necessity shall render it expedient to root him out. This- idea is "so universally entertained, and its truth so unhappily and so invariably borne out by practice and by facts, that it has been admitted and established as a principle in the philosophy of tho social system. The good, the wise, and the humano believe in the existence of this evil, are persuaded of its necessary consequence upon extended civilization, deplore the circumstance and regret that it is beyond tho reach of their effective influence.. Tho immoral, the selfiish and tho interested are alike firm in the same belief, and without waiting or deeming it necessary to found their belief upon philosophic reasoning, they practically, cruelly, heartlessly and energetically strive \ to bring about tho result. But this horrid and fatal sophism of society, while it may , rest upon fearful and atrocious practice", has not one shadow of a foundation in nature or in truth, the assertion would be a libel upon the wisdom, providence and benevolence of the Author of our being, and if legitimately carried out and acted upon, would justify every species of crime and cruelty, even murder and cannibalism itself. If God has given this destructive license to tho civilised over tho uncivilised man, even in tho jextremest cases and tho remotest degrees ! of knowledge and of ignorance-, then may it ialso by the same principle be asserted as a j right of man over his fellow man in every intermediate degree of knowledge and of ignorance, a doctrine at once subversive of civil I liberty and repugnant to every law of our nature. ' / Our attention has been of late more particularly drawn to this subject, in consequence of the recent unhappy conflict between our countrymen at Nelson and tho Natives of this country, and the letter by Dr. Monro, ono of the Nelson settlers, which we published in tho last number of this paper. We aro well aware that to those who aro ignorant of the native character, tho massacre a.t Nelson will convey, not only the most erroneous, but tho most revolting ideas regarding the character and disposition of the natives ; and, wo are even afraid that it may tend much to the injury of the whole colony. We need scarcely be surprised at such effects, when we find the Sydney newspapers, and even our own settlors, put forth such foolish and ignorant statements. A stranger, on taking up either the Sydney or Nelson papers, would suppose that the poor natives were not only ready, but eagor to destroy, and to devour every European in this colony ; though by us, and by all those who understand the native character, no danger whatever is apprehended. Instead iof feeling surprised at such a circumstance as the Weiroa massacre, however distressing and lamentable it be, we only wonder that [ many more similar calamities have not befallen us, when we consider how utterly I reckless, injudicious, and unjust the conduct of this government has been all along towards the natives. Let our readers for one moment fancy our relative positions ; let them suppose themselves, or any Europeans, in the position of the natives of this country ; and let them also suppose a number of strange people, foreign in appearance, manners, and customs, but superior in intellect and ingenuity, and apparently possessed of unlimited^ resources, forcing themselves without ceremony upon the inhabitants, obtaining possession of their lands and settling upon them, and not only remaining in the country themselves, but daily bringing others with them. Even such a circumstance as this, would be calculated to excite curiosity, anxiety, and alarm. But let us suppose further, that these strangers, few and straggling at first, and it may be, obedient and unpretending, had been after a time followed by a considerable body of the same strange people, whose pretensions, ambition, and power, were something higher, so high in fact, as to require at all events, to ask the native inhabitants to enter into a treaty with them, and to impart to them certain rights and privileges, offering in return for the same, the protection of an imaginary person or power, of whom it may be, the natives had never heard, and whose aid or assistance they never felt the want of ; all this would naturally still more increase the anxiety and alarm which the first had merely excited. We may however, proceed still further, and suppose that this strange, though apparently kind and just, but suspicious-looking: