We publish below a letter from General Cameron to Governor Browne, from which we learn that the inaction that followed the truce at Taranaki was not chargeable to the General, as was at one time supposed to be the case. Our readers will perceive that the General was for action, and that at once, while the weather was favorable. Head-Quarters, Camp, Waitara, 15th April, 1861. Sin, —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency’s letter, dated the 13th inst, and its enclosures. I fully concur in the opinion expressed in your Excellency’s Memorandum, and in that of your Responsible Advisers, that the Native insurrection has been ehietly fomented and supported by the Waikato tribe, and it is with them that the important question of the Queen’s Supremacy has to be settled. On this account, at the first meeting of the Executive Council which I attended after my arrival in the Colony, I strongly recommended that they should be called to account without loss of time for their participation in the rebellion, and that they should not be allowed more than a few days to give in their submission. I represented that if this were done, and preparations at the same time made for an expedition into their country, I considered that if they refused to come to terms there would be sufficient time before the commencement of the heavy' rains to move into, and occupy, their country ; and that I believed that the* force then in New Zealand was of sufficient strength to carry out such an operation with success. These views being opposed by yourself and every member of the Executive Council, I willingly adopted the plan of a descent upon the Ngatiruanui coast, because I could see no better way in which Her Majesty’s troops could be employed and not with any idea that such an operation however successful, could be productive of any decisive result. Much valuable time has already been lost in dilatory negotiations, and as your Excellency has informed me that those into which you arc about to enter "with the M aikato are likely to occupy about six weeks, there is little hope, if they refuse to submit, of our being able to enter their country before next spring. I will carry out your Excellency’s wishes in moving all the troops that can be spared from this quarter to Auckland, as soon as I can procure the requisite transport ; and I will lose no time in making arrangements for the security of New Plymouth and the surrounding district. I shall feel obliged by your Excellency’s informing me whether you wish any force to be located as at the outset of hostilities, at the Tataraiiuaka' Block. I shall also be obliged by your decision as to whether this Province is to continue anv lonr-er under Martial Law, now that hostilities have for some time ceased, and so far as I can judge arc not likely to be soon resumed. I have, Ac., 11. A. Camei!ox, His Excellency Major-General. Colonel T. Gore Browne, C. 8.,
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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 68, 16 October 1862, Page 4
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512Untitled Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 68, 16 October 1862, Page 4
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