TARANAKI.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 119, 29 May 1863, Page 3

TARANAKI.

[From the Taranaki Herald, 16th May], Sib George Grey has not been very successful hitherto in his efforts, whatever they have been, for the reinstatement of Taranaki, but he has at last succeeded in reinstating a portion of its inhabitants ; and we suppose he has chosen the most deserving to begin with—the leaders in the late rebellion—William King’s people of Mataitawa, whom he has just put back upon laud they occupied before the war, which never belonged to them. In other words, Waitara has heen given tip and without investigation. It was said of one of the greatest of Oriental chess-players that no one could ever foresee his coming move or discern the object of it when it was made. And this is perfectly true of Sir G. Grey. We believe there are very few men who would have dared a little while since to predict the following proclamation, or who, now that they see it, could say with what object it was issued:— By his Excellency Sir George Grey, &c., &c., Whereas an engagement for the purchase of a certain tract of land at the Waitara, commonly known as Teira’s block, was entered into by the Government of New Zealand, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine,* but the said purchase has never been completed : And whereas circumstances connected with the said purchase, unknown to the Government at the tune of the sale of the said land, have lately transpired, which made it advisable the said purchase should not be further proceeded with : Notts therefore the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, doth hereby declare that the purchase of the said block of land is abandoned, and all claim to the same on the part of Government is henceforth renounced. Given under my hand at New Plymouth and issued under the Seal of the Colony of New Zealand this eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. G. Grey. By His Excellency’s command, Alfred Domett. God save the Queen! We confess we cannot imagine the object of this monstrous act. Had it been done 18 months ago it would have been the honest avowal of an unwise and mischievous policy. If it had been done a month ago, it would have been looked upon merely as the crowning act of a policy that was (at some distant time) to triumph by conceding everything that was demanded, but coming as it does close after the brutal massacre of last week, it will be only interpreted as a sign of abject fear, and is as foolish as it is disgraceful. Look at the history of eight days just past. On Monday, the 4th May, nine English are murdered, because, as one Mataitawa native said, “Waitara had not been given up.” On Monday, the 11th May, Waitara is given up. There may have been some high motive prompting this Christian mode of retaliating, but it is such as the natives, with their simple nature will never recognize. We can indeed see two results that are likely to follow from this act, which, however, could hardly have supplied the motive for doing it. First, it may tempt on the greater part of the Maori race to their destruction, by showing them that they have only to fight for what they want and they are sure to get it, if not from one Governor, then from his successor ; and secondly, it may destroy the last remnants of confidence which the settlers feel in Sir George Grey and his advisers.

It may be that this thing has been done (though vre can only mention it as a possible explanation) with the childish hope of stopping the Mataitawa natives, and through them Waikato, from joining in the coming war. Expediency, no doubt, is a high rule of conduct, but not the highest. Is public faith nothing to our public men, which, if ever pledged to anything, was pledged to the investigation of the Waitara case and the completion of the purchase if the title was proved good ? Is the desolation of this province to be so quietly ignored ? Are the lives lost and the blood spilt of so little account that they are to bo declared wasted in an unjust cause without the most solemn and searching enquiry ? The declaration has been virtually made, but not the enquiry. But these Mataitawa men, to appease whom we have sacrificed our honor, will not even say they will be friendly ; even this last bribe only extorts from them an empty profession of neutrality. And who will believe that men who taunt us with our “ unavenged dead at Wairau” will look quietly on while we destroy their intimate allies, because we have given up what they have all fought for three years ago ? Are we to begin a newwar with the declaration that hitherto we have been fighting wrongfully and yet take as the casus belli an act which to the natives and in reality is but a continuation of the old quarrel P This is indeed wonderful, but it is what we are doing. Colonel Browne fought not for the paltry 600 acres of land, but against the unlawful tyranny which tried to stop the sale; and the natives fought to uphold the authority of their race against the Queen and the law-, which is exactly what they are doing now. The land was but the symbol of the point in dispute ; and to give it up w-illingly before we had got what it represented, w-as to give up our claim to the sovereignty of New Zealand, end to own ourselves in the wrong. To show that this quarrel is but a renewal of the old one, it is necessary to remember that W. King’s people—these same Mataitawa natives—once signed articles of peace, which they have ever since scrupulously violated ; that the Taranaki natives did not even go through this formality, but have kept equally or more hostile ; and that both have all along declared that Tataraimaka should not be given up to the Governor unless he gave up Waitara to them. They at least kept their word, aud began the war in their own way—by murder. We answer by resigning what it was the alleged object of the murder to get,

and then proceed to punish the murderers. The truth is, that underlying the questions of Waitara and Tataraimaka is something deeper that produces them both. We may give up all symbols of authority, as we have long since given up the reality ; we may give up this piece of land or that, but the Maories have determined to try which race shall be dominant, and unless we make up our minds to the same issue the sooner we get out of the way the better. Perhaps the most startling thing in this proclamation is the statement it contains that it is issued with the advice and consent of the Executive Council. We know Mr. Bell has been accused of generally seeing both sides of a question at once, but we did not expect such versatility as would enable him to wriie a long pamphlet in defence of the pui'chase under Governor Browne, and to “ throw Teira overboard” (to use his own words) under Governor Grey. This was certainly surprising; but we confess to being struck with a kind of dismay at seeing at the foot of the proclamation the name of Alfred Domett. The only account we can give of it is that both Governor and Ministry must have altogether lost their presence of mind in the face of a great danger they did not expect. But, whatever the explanation, we hope the whole colony will consider the question whether the men who have stumbled into war without knowing what was before them, and who have begun it so strangely are the most likely to bring it to a successful end? Whether, in fact, it is not high time for the colony to take the whole matter into its own hands ? The Press will tell us that it is our own fault for refusing the charge of native affairs, which is partly true; but we do not care so much about whose the fault was, as what the cure is. Our friends in the South may be assured that another war patched up before it is finished will be vastly more expensive—even if England pays half the bill —than even if it is fought out to its proper end and we have to pay all. We say, therefore, let the Assembly be called at once, for it is clear we have no guarantee against any suicidal act so long as the power continues in the hands of those that now hold it.