THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1869.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 617, 30 December 1869, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1869.

The news brought by the last Mail should surely be sufficient to convince the Colony of. the folly of the Fax Alminiairalion in abandoning the high and independent position which the late Ministry had taken up with respect to the internal military defence of the Colony, And it must not be a Httle satisfactory to Mr Stafford and those who acted with him to find that their course of action has been fully justi* fied by subsequent events,. It is plain beyond all doubt that the British Government will not garrison New Zealand against internal enemies. Iv spite of remonstrances of the most vigorous kind from very influential persons, and despite the numerous unfavorable expressions of opinion from other quarters, B\irl Granville— and he, of course, repn •= Bents the whole Cabinet on this que. ■» tion — adheres strictly to the policy laid down, and offers no hope whatever that the decision of the Government will be relaxed. Nor can we expect that the Commissioners who have just left for England will be able to furnish any stronger arguments for the necessity of Continued military protection to the Colony than these which, have been already adduced by Mr Se well, Sir George Grey, and other influential Colonists at Home. Since the time when a majority of the House of Representatives abandoned the policy of Mr- Stafford, events have themselves proved how utterly fallacious, was the opinion that the Colony could noc cope singW-hand.ed with the few lmndredNativp

marauders who have disturbed the peace of the North Island. Practically, the worst of the work of subjugation had been accomplished before Mr Fox took office, and sinco that time the Government has been able to prosecute, its defence plans at perfect leisure, and to indulge in pacificatory visits to tribes that in the inconsiderate panic pi the time were deemed to be bent on sweeping the Europeans into the sea. That the retention of the 13th Regiment ngainsi the repeated requests for their removal was an unnecessary act has been proved by the qirqumstar-ces to which wehave alluded, and by the fact that their services haye not btieu required for any purpose whatever except that of ornament, Still more completely has it been proved that the presence of the two or three regiments of the line which Commissioners Bell and Fe.athers.ton have gong honie to ask for, is not only absolutely needless, but would most probably have an effect the very opposite of that which, according to Mr Fox, it is desired to create. The great argument of the present Ministry is that the fact of a number of British troops remaining in the island would constantly remind the Natives of the great invincible protecting power which was at the back of the Colony. Such an argument is contradicted by past experience. Seven years ago there were ten thousand Queen's troops, with powerful artillery, and aided by three or four thousand colonial levies ; but did that fact deter such spirits a3 Titokowaru, Te Kooti, and others from rising as soon as, the opportunity occurred ? Is it not ff»r more likely that we shall ensure the respect of the Native race by a reliance on our own exertions, and by proving to them as we have done on several occasions that we are quite able to fight our own battles 1 It cannot be supposed that the Home Government is blind to these things. L,ookers-on often are best able to judge of the game, and we may be suro that a Prime Minister who is so well accustomed to look to remote consequences as Mr Gladstone is, has weighed the position of affairs in New Zealand, ajfld is satisfied of the propriety, even in its local bearings, of the step his Ministry has taken, to say nothing of its relation to the larger question involved. What strikes us a3 being rather singular with respect to the, controversy now going on in England on this subject is that whilst the demand for further Imperial help proceeded from only a bare majority of the Parliament of the Colony, and is, ppobably, supported only by a minority of the colonists, scarcely any one seems to have made that fact known ; and those who ta,ke upon themselves the duty of lecturing the people of New Zealand in the Times and other influential papers appear to think that the whole Colony has prostrated itself ad misericoniiam before the British nation, and is in a horrible state of "funk." The Commissioners will, of course, make out as good or as bad a case as possible, there will be public meetings, dinners, and so on, and Messrs Bell and Featherston will figure as the sort of lions that missionaries are at the May Meetings. But we hope for the sake of the Colony that their performances will stop there, and that they will not be the means of reestablishing in New Zealand the mischie-* vous and demoralising dual authority which nearly wrecked the Colony once, and could only have the effect of lessening our self-respect and enervating our political action.