THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 649, 21 January 1869, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

(Prom the Times, October 29.)

Exactly afe the moment when the Americans are discovering that, their system of dealing with the Indians on their frontier has been radically wrong we ourselves must be confirmed in a similar conclusion by the unexpected intelligence from New Zealand. It is

really almost incredible that things should again have come to such a pass as is now described. Let us once more repeat, for it cannot be too clearly understood, that the European popula tion of New Zealand amounted at the Census of 1867 to 218,668 souls, of whom a large proportion were males. The colonists were increasing in num bers at the rate of about 25,000 a year. On the other hand, the aboriginal inhabitants were found by enumeration ten years ago to be under 56,000, and they have been constantly decreasing. In 1856 the male savages of fighing age were certainly not above 16,000 in number, and they are-probably under 12,000 at present. Of these, too, it must be understood that a certain proportion ar'e always friendly to us, and in active alliance for the time being, while others are neutral or passive, insomuch that no Maori force ever appears in the field above a few hundreds strong. Nevertheless, such being the conditions of the contest, we learn from the letter of our correspondent, yesterday published, that not only is a New Zealand war going on, but going on with decided advantage to the savages, a colonial force having just suffered so disastrous a defeat that unless our reputation be quickly retrieved it will be difficult to forsea the termination of the struggle. Of course, it will be gathered from the foregoing remarks that these hostilities are conducted on a limited scale, but a list of five officers and fourteen men killed and twentyfour wounded would be thought no in considerable loss in a more important engagement. It is impossible to overlook the coincidence of opinions as well as events in the United States and New Zealand. General Sherman has found the Red Indians exactly like their ancestors, only more dangerous from their partial civilisation. They are as pure savages as over, hut they have better arms, greater skill in using them, and a more effective acquaintance with military tactics. The General and some other officers have lately been sitting on a Commission at Chicago, and taking the whole subject of these Indian affairs into careful consideration. The result of their deliberations is, in short

that the “ recognition” hitherto accorded to the tribes should cease; that all savages should be hereafter held to be individually responsible for their actions, and that summary and vigorous measures should be at once adopted on this understanding. From New Zealand, we should expect to receive much the same information. There the savages actually seem to outwit and defeat us at every turn. If we imprison them, they escape; if we transport them, they come back from

exile in defiance ; if we pursue them, they turn upon us ; and if we attack diem, we find them so advantageously posted that they hold their own against us, if not more. In the long run, no doubt, we should prevail, but it cannot be said that New Zealand wars have resulted uniformly in our favor, and they have certainly not had the effect of discouraging the enemy. To a certain extent, the advantages enjoyed by the savages both in our colonies and in America, are inseperable

from the nature of the case. They bang on the the outskirts of civilised settlements, where the population is scattered, and where the inhabitants of any village or homestead may be easily outnumbered. They suffer little or nothing from the incidents of war, which to them is as natural a pursuit as any kind of industry. They can keep the field without much departure from their ordinary ways of of living, and, as their losses, however, the campaign may end, are always incredibly small, they have little interest in the preservation of peace. But to these natural advantages others of no slight weight have been added of set purpose by those with whom they came in contact. Civilisation placed ourselves and the Americans under onerous obligations. We never allowed ourselves to deal with savages as they deal' with us, or as other savages would have dealt with them. In New Zea-,

land and at the Cape we ;■ took thesa wars out of'the hands of the lest they should conduct them ruthlessly, and committed the work Imperial troops exported for the pui£ pose at enormous cost and peculiarly unfitted for the exigencies of such campaigning. Battalions of regular troops, stiffly equipped and drilled, were sent into the bush agaiiMfcS®

light armed and light»footed savages, and the barbarians themselves, when at length brought to reason, were treated with all the consideration due to civilised and independent communities. Indeed, their friends in this country used to represent them as in a “ state of transition,” and to claim for them accordingly the privileges of freo savages and ordinary citizens at one and the same time. As lawful subjects, of the Queen they had an indefeasible title to all the land of the colony which they called their own ; as irresponsible barbarians they were to b# excused for raising civil war whenever they likedv and massacreing the Queen’s troops and subjects whenever they had an opportunity. In America they fared better still. At this very moment, unless special orders have been issued by the Government, General Sherman is not at liberty to consider his enemy as an enemy at all. Although the Indians are ravaging the frontier settlements, he cannot attack them unless he actually finds them engaged in a breach of the peace. A whole tribe of savages may march across his very front, with their rifles and scalping knives, and. yet claim to be regarded as peaceful citizens of a “ domestic dependent nation.” If he so much as touched them, there would be a special “ Department ” of State ready to call him to account. He must treat them exactly as a British policeman treats a known thief and probable garotter. If he " sees an assault committed,” he may arrest the malefactor, but not otherwise. These conditions of fighting, which Sherman has himself explained, leave it hard work to confront perhaps 30,000 savages with 7,000 American soldiers, and the General and his colleagues have at length asked not only for more troops, but more liberty of action. We must take a leaf out of the same book. Our system hitherto has protected the Maoris at heavy cost to ourselves, and yet it has done them no good whatever. They have learnt just religion enough to devise a kind of Christian fetish, and just politics enough to elect a King of their own in place of Queen Victoria. They am dying out, certainly ; but though wo advance and they decline they are a match for us, under the conditions permitted, to the very last. We suppose this new affair will soon be over, but the history of the last twenty years teaches us that the tw r o races cannot survive together, and that we cannot afford to give these savages quite so much advantage as we have hitherto, in the confidence of our superiority, been pleased to allow them.