OUR POSITION AND DUTY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 299, 21 August 1865, Page 1

OUR POSITION AND DUTY.

[Fiom the Adfeii’sei', August 15.1 The recent tragedies at Wbakatane, Warea> and Patea, read by the light of the brutal murder at Opotiki, leave no room to doubt that there is a work of no ordinary character .for the Colony to do before it can settle down •to its special calling of colonization. To those who have studied the history of the Pilgrim Fathers, and have traced the rise and progress of infant settlements among a barbarous people, there need be no cautionary bint that -the work of colonization can only be undertaken amid peril and discouragement. The page of history tells one unvaried tale, and New Zealand will not form an exception to the general rule. We have been spared hitherto the trials and vicissitudes of colonial •existence, because the native mind was not Tipe, until lately, for that hour of intense .suspicion and inevitable conflict which is its natural condition, at some time or other, when dvilizaliaa and barbarism stand face to face. When the Europeans were few in .number their advent was eagerly balled by the Maori, who not only parted with his overabundant land, which he did not value, for articles which he did ; but who, torn by in ter-tribal wars, rejoiced to And in the newcomer a valuable support in time of trouble. This period passed away, and in its place •came the time when commercial activity, with its accompanying engagements, took of the aboriginal mind; a ready market for their indigenous productions, and •an abundant supply of the necessaries and ■conveniences of life in exchange, were anodynes of no mean potency. The stranger came and settled, and with him came increasing comfort; but at length, as wave after wave of immigration covered the land, the native awoke to the reality of his position—awoke to find that in welcoming a guest, he had become subject to a master. This feeling once aroused sprang into activity with a rapidity proportionate to the inteusuy of the p evious state of apathy. The decree went forth that European settlement should be discouraged, the sale of land prohibited, and au union of all the tribes under one common head be insisted on. This passive resistance was for a time, and in a measure, successful; but as it was impossible to stay the baud of those who desired to sell land, a conflict soon arose between the loyal, who asserted the right of the Queen to buy from the tribes willing to sell, and those who had renounced their allegiance to her Majesty, and enrolled themselves us citizens of a purely Maori kingdom. After a time it was fouud necessary, with a view to simulate the indifferent, and evoke tne energies of the waverers, to put on one side the creed of Christianity, and to revive the ancient customs under a guise which should add all the fervor of anew creed, derived directly from Heaven, to the undying associations of the past. And thus it is that the angel Gabriel has been introduced as the herald of a new faith which goes hand in hand with the maddening excitement of the war dance, and the horrible abomination of the canuibel. Bad as has been the past, the end is not yet. Foiled in their boasted assertion of invulnerability, and disenchanted of their fancied possession of superhuman power, they, nevertheless, still enlist disciples and indoctrinate their deluded followers into the gibberish and grimace of a bewildering infatuation' The plague, however, is stayed, for, far spreading as the infection has flown, there remain spots here and there, where not merely a passive resistance is offered, but where active measures are adopted to arrest the evil. These are the allies of civilisation and a pure faith and thej will he found, as they have hitherto been found, the fast friends of the European in the coming strife ; for, let us not dream away our time in visions of security. There will not, there cannot he peace until the tempest has blown over the land, and for this it behoves us to gird up our loins and be prepared.

The isolated nature of out settlements, situated on the circumference of a circle, is itself an element of weakness; while at the same time, it possesses some advantages in

enabling the colonists to avail themselves of the sea as highway, and as a political and revenue preventive guard; but it would have been wiser bad the location of settlers been confined to two portions of the coast line, extending as colonisation advanced. The settlements, are now too remote from each other to be any mutual support; and some of them are sufficiently weak to invite attack. But it is hot to what might have been best, but as to what exists, that we have to direct our attention. The coming spring will be the time of trial, and we hope and believe, if properly managed, the time of triumph; but, to effect this, there must I e no stint of confidence, no niggardliness of supply. There appears to he several methods by which the coming crisis can be met. We will glance at them as they suggest themselves to our mind. The su ject is one of great importance and well deserves as it demands, the most careful examination and the most rigid scrutiny. The attitude which the colony may assume is one purely defensive, or of that intermediate character which, vvhile abjuring aggrandisement, is designed to strike a blow

at the fanatical hordes which are prowling about our outsetilemenls, seeking whom they may devour—indifferent alike as to whether the object of the ambuscade be a loyal Mauri or an European. The subject specially commends itself to our consideration at the preseat moment, when questions of vital importance in connection with it are before the legislature. We shall, therefore, resume the discussion in our next issue.