Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1864.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 197, 21 October 1864, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1864.

The meeting, just about to be convened, of the General Assembly, will be one of the most momentous in the history of New Zealand. That question which has so often agitated more advanced and civilized nations— Peace or War ?—-will he the one upon which our representatives will have to deliberate. We anticipate the decision. We see at a glance what will he the result of the deliberations of our Legislature. War / / It does not require any very great amount of foresight or prophetical inspiration to say that much, for it is sufficiently clear that whether we like it or not, the Maoris in the North are determined to have the fight out with us.

This is the result of Sir George Grey’s mild way of accepting the submission of the rebellious natives at Tauranga, and his affectionate treatment of those unfortunates whom the fortune of war had thrown upon our hands. Napoleon, who was considered a pretty good judge of the requirements of obstreperous people, had a great deal more faith in a charge of canister tbaa in any amount of fine talking and diplomatic manoeuvring. When that greatest of modern warriors had to deal with certain troublesome crowned heads, who seemed to indulge in the idea that there are two sides to every question, he significantly pointed to the hilt of his sword, without further word or comment.

That, and that alone, should have been the argument of Sir George Grey. His temporizing policy—his desire to make the natives believe that while he waged war against them, taking their lands, slaying their fighting men, and burning their villages, he was still St heart their friend, and while he chastised yet dearly loved them—has been the cause of the war breaking out afresh. Firmness, demanding unconditional surrender, is the only way of settling these natives. It is in accordance with their own customs, it is in accordance with their own time-honored usages and traditions, and it is in accordance with every usage and every tradition which has found acceptance amongst all other belligerent, but for the nonce, more civilized nations.

It is, then, to he hoped that when the General Assembly does meet, it will at once and without further mincing of the matter, strike at the direct cause of our present, our past, and, as matters stand, our future difficulties with the Maoris. Clemency ! The Colony demands of her representatives one of two things, relying upon the judgment of those representatives for the conclusion— Peace or War. But whichever it be, let it be decisive. Let us have no more of this wavering-—this halting between two opinions, —for the war will remain an everlasting fact unless one of these courses be adopted and carried out.

Let us, then, hear no more of that silly talk about “ short, sharp, and decisive,” but let us be up and doing, and bring this discreditable war to an end one way or the other.

country than all fclie lands he has jwjshased are worth.