The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1870

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2158, 6 April 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1870

Although Te Kooti has again given his purstiers the slip he cannot now bo considered dangerous, If it be true that his followers are reduced to about twenty, and that the prisoners number three hundred, the estimated force under his command is accounted for, and as the native tribes will bo naturally unwilling to marshal themselves under a leader whose prestige is gone, and who is being hunted down, the rebellion may be considered virtually at an end.

The lesson "will not be lost on the Native mind, for although the final blow has been struck by a Native force, it is significant of.the resources of the Colony, that unaided by the Imperial forces, a war has been sustained through a series of years, and brought to a successful conclusion. As a matter ot course the colonels who declined to act under the present Government will find some flaw in the arrangements. There is something new in the plans adopted, something not exactly in accordance with oldsoldierly notions probably something they cannot understand—certainly something to which they have not been accustomed, and they therefore cannot see the advantage of the arrangement. No doubt, Mr Cracroft Wilson’ will prove demonstratively that the war ought not to have been successful without Ghoorka trooops; and Mr Vogel must be surprised that no regiment raised in Great Britain has proved to be necessary; while others will begin to imagine that forty thousand a year after all may be better spent on practical preparations for defence, than in maintaining a regiment as a passive sign of Her Majesty’s power. It is better as it is. We never could see a surer plan than setting Maoris to beat Maoris. It may have its disadvantages, but they are so overbalanced by the advantages that they are slight compared with them. It is scarcely worth the labor of argument to prove this. The old maxim Divide et impera, is too self-evident to need demonstration. It has been handed down to us from past ages ; it was successfully acted upon by the Homans it has answered in India, and it will answer in New Zealand. It has always proved the least expensive mode of conducting war as well as the most successful. By adopting it. the Native allies become identified in interest, manners, and customs with ourselves, and they are gradually initiated into our modes of thought and action. The alliance thus becomes an agent in their civilisation, and is an important step towards their absorption into the industrial population. This identity of interest is already spreading, and has done more to create a desire for peace in the Native mind than any other circumstances. Many Natives are deriving large incomes from territorial revenue, and feel more concerned to retain them than to perpetuate the manners and customs of savagery. They have learned the advantage of security of possession, and would rather sustain those laws under whose operation it is maintained, than return to a condition of affairs under which they were liable to be driven oft’ their lands by the first rude warrior who could command followers and arms enough to achieve a victory. Thus, while there are at all times causes of discontent, well or ill-founded, to render Maori outbreaks probable, year by year they become fewer. Rebellion resembles an intermittent fever, the virulence of which is weakened in proportion to the length of time that elapses between its attacks. Fierce, violent, and dangerous at first, as time rolls on it becomes weaker, the intervals become longer, and then it ceases to trouble. Hunted to death, Te Kooti may before long be forgotten; but vigilance must not cease, No matter who is at the head of the Government, constant preparation is necessary, for prevention is better than cure. Colonel Whitmore and men of his stamp may endeavor to cast contempt upon the armed constabulary, but they give no sufficient reason why they should not be equally effective in the field as the rabble he had the honor to command. They are picked men, better drilled, better armed, and better characters. To our thinking, therefore, more to be depended upon. It should be considered fortunate that so little service in the field has been required of them; for although Ave have no fear but they would fully justify the trust reposed in them, by conducting themselves bravely, like all Britons, Ave have no objection to the Maoris earning the head-money promised them for the capture of Te Kooti, or any other bloodthirsty chieftain Avho may rise up to trouble us.