THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 367, 12 April 1866, Page 1

THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

I '" » 12th ! J»oniaiiy:) ’ "Aif. liwt New 2Teaiarid‘ qae&iW-~th*t 'is. ,ta?say,.the New Zealand waiv—seems. likely! flp. i&terayoated but before that desireabje; consummation actually arrives,we hope the; Reasons,of our experience in those islands will lie thoroughly’ impressed upon the ;public.: jhfew, Zealand contains probably' at this mp;jipeni, a ; J population of, 200,0()0 colonists, in .which the. males .are about twice as, numerous the . females. . The native , tribes, with Which we, have been so long at war comprise jtthout 50,000 .' souls, perhaps, $5,000 males of fighting age. There, would jappearj therefore,; to.be no room for, much difficulty between settlers and, savages, . since ..the; former could overpower the latter with ease, and control or chastise them at diserejtiou.r But this is not the. whole of.tbe .case,. We never had 15,000 Maoris ip arms against WSi ot lhe half ofthera, or, as,there is reason td believe, even the fifth part-of them.- Some tribes-were always friendly, and ready to iightonour side, while, in additionto these allies, - we actually had, if, indeed, we have jtot at this moment, an army,of 10,000 Imperial troops iu the colony imported from 'borne establishments totake part in the war: Tfiwe uowaddthattheonJy’ thing .which atobdiri the way ofd speedy success was this «fyt-armyrwe shall seto to be-making- a pariidoxicalassertionhigblyuacompKmentary to-British troops. We mean ho offence- to them, however, and yet the statement is per--fectly-drue. ThelmperiiiUanny kept:the war-hfoot; without- being allowed. to fiaiab.it. It-waa a. force under distinct control, and* by some perversity of fortuasorpolicy, almost WltW^s-’controlled -to bad-purpose;; The ■colonists knew'how.thewar’odgbt tobeconducted;-' but : they could riot-command the tfdops, 5 cor were thriy ; enabled to 1 set about the wmrfc 'What With the ticular ■views-bf the Governor arid the General in command, and tharestrietionsplaced upon .subordinates* and the service assigned to the Soldiers, the operations of:the army .came: to Juothingif , That . the troops ? themselves were fully equal to> the exigencies of a , campaign in the bush, if well led-and directed, isshowri by the intelligence-we published on Saturday; -hot they-never had'afair chance of learning the’ business, or goings well'about the work. So many impediments of authority, or interest, «r jealousy were iirterppsed, the military force was rparalyzed, while,aU this time Jhe colonists were deprived, of. the .opportunity ofrfinishingthe warin their own way. At last thesystem became .intolerable, both in the colony and at home. Apolicy of “ self■reJiance’i was .introduced, iu-its place,- and though i the:. trpopft.have not yet been : ; «eqt home, tbe prosecution of the war has t been taken upby local-levies with markedsuccess. <EhO soldiers, too, when, thus engaged .and conducted," have .done excellent service,and the savages appear .to have suffered asmuch lost in the bast six months aa in all the preceding campaigns, l These achievements, -which reallyrefleet { much credit upon both officers and-men, will pcoUWy briag th* aatitea-to treason at' prs-

iwit/aiid then we ate told that a new “ native policy” will he adopted by the colonial levies. This policy is described as <£ letting the natives i alone/’ —a very simple system, no doubt/* Biit, •in itself, it Is’ only- what has practised already, while there is another point -for that the natives may-perhaps- not choose to be equally forbearing towards us. However, there"is this /resource in' reserve, tMt If th 6 savage gives any -farther trouble,’ they will bo shortly and sharply/dealt with. The colonists perfectly understand their business, and, if ; left to themselves, can; bring it to a very good end. Already l they have-; taken fortifications thought? to be impregnable without -artillery, and already the troops, when put fairly upon the work, have shown that they can do it well. In one action, most skilfully as well as bravely conducted by. Lieutenant Biggs, with thirty volunteers and one hundred friendly natives, two hundred Maoris and three hundred women and children surrendered themselves prisoners—a.capture almost without’precedent, we fancy, in a New Zealand war.

That we, with all our advantages of science, material, and numbers, should hitherto lidte lain virtually at the 'mmfey of a weak 'arid divided enemy, and have allowed this handful of savages to cripple the colony in Its growth, arid tax heavily Englishmen at home, is certainly a wonderful thing to look back upon. How absolutely the control of affairs was in ouf favour,"Trad we but knowri how to exercise it, may be inferred from the remark contained - in our correspondent’s letter respecting the state of the Maoris, These restless, and, under our system- of action, unconquerable enemies, are so comparatively few in number, and are so rapidly declining, that in a few years they will be of little more account than, the Red Indians in Canada. New Zealand wars, even if not brought to an end otherwise, must have died Out at last for want of Maoris. The numbers of our enemies in the field have been incredibly small, and if we knewthe exact strength of the force which has defied a British colony and a British army for so long a time, and worn out the patience of Government and people at home, we should probably be lost in amazement. It should, however, be added, in explanation of the mystery, that these natives occupied a country singularly favorable to their method of warfare, and-were themselves extraordinary proficients in the art of military fortification. If any reader thought lightly ofa Maori 1 “ pa,” his ideas might have been corrected by a description of one of these positions in 1 our last intelligence. Imagine two large’ square redoubts.connected atthe angles by a rampart covering a ; subterranean passage, with parapets eight feet high, doubly palisaded, and rifle pits as thick as . honeycombs--all - round. Still- formidable as-such pittebs ’were, the troops and,Volunteers could give a very good’accoUnt : of them when allowed to fight 4s: they pleased. ’ All these and difficulties will appear more astonishing than e ver, if we do but recollect that the colony in which Englishmen have beeix worried: by 50,000 savages is about as large as Great Britain and Ireland together.' Civilization cannot as yet haye 4 heen pressing upon barbarism: We nb| treading upon the heels of the Maoris, like the Americans upbri those of Red men. There must .be ample roo,m for. them to live as they .please, without' "ppstemlirig, as they have actually done, to limit the. growth of a a. British colonyL .There.was at one time a curious.conspiracy or insurrection.in North America of the : Red; men against ithe Whites. The, Indians had become convinced ■ that the continent was .to he -no longer , theirs, and that their race .wauld be overpowered by the new-comers, unless,they could, by one desperate effort, exterminate tbe Invaders and recover their position. Theydid, therefore, make war uponthe whites* and-gaUantly too, but that was a hundred years ago, when the disproportion between the races .-was * not, so very great. ImNew Zealand, .however, we have witnessed theagtonishing-spectacle ofa rising andprogperouscolony kept upon Its defence and forced' to. struggle for its existence bya mereihandfui of savages, whose absolute submission ought to have been secured long age. Tbe-pretensiOMoftfaese-tribeswere but they’ were adflutoed

and maintained without reserve. ' ’Mfc Maoris really meant to say by the war was this—that New Zealuud was lo be theirs, hot ours. ~We hope they have been now disabused pf.that, idea,}, but though they cannot reverse a natural law, or. turn,'back the tide of civilisation, there, is, happily, not the slightest reason why they should not peaceably fulfil whatever destiny may be in store for them,.'