Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1869.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 726, 14 October 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1869.

Io triumphe ! Tl>e troops have gained a success, and thirty seven Hauhaus have been killed. The news was hailed here with a sense of relief; everybody had begun to, dread some accident, but happily the affair Has concluded without serious disaster. Qur handful of whites, with no support but a horde of friendly natives, in case of reverse would have been awkwardly situated, and deserted to their fate of course. Let us. be thankful for what has befallen us. The fighting men, when permitted to act, have deserved all the credit they can get, and Colonels Herrick's and McDonnell's services should be acknowledged by the applause of their fel-low-settlers. Men who risk their lives in our defence should not, and shall not so far as we can prevent it, be treated as s under far more critical circumstances, they were last yeai\ That was the shame of the Colony, and it is fortunate that such conduct did not produce even more serious disasters.

We have no .sympathy nor congratulation to offer the Government. It assumed office when little re mained to be done, but that little was easy and apparent. Te Kooti was recovering his spirits, obtaining ammunition and recruits at Lake Waikarimoana, and in such open country was absolutely at the mercy of the first 100 Europeans who approached him. His total force was 70 men—4o surviving Chatham Islanders and 30 Uriwera volunteers. The opportunity was ignorantly lost, the troops were hurried away to the coast, and the finest chance which has ever existed of crushing the drooping rebellion passed away. The reason of this was that the country had to be hoodwinked. We were to renounce the aggressivej to spend no money on war, to. forward no more distant expeditions,—least of all, again to, repeat Mr Stafford's crime of penning up the Hauhaus in a narrow upace, " so cruel," as Mr Fox feelingly observed in the House of Representatives. But time has passed, and with time came reflection. The July chance could not be recoveiled, but the rubbish talked in the House might be devoured. We have seen the result, and feel sorry we cannot discern any promise for the future or good management in the present about it. Our object is not to produce startling episodes, but to restore peace. Has the attainment of peace been at all expedited by these Taupo proceedings? We wish ve could think it had. Once convinced that they must swallow their words in Parliament, active, energetie measures to repair lost opportunities were necessary. Did the Government set these on foot \ For more than two months we have seen a series of torpid manoeuvres, culminating in the concentration of some 600 men out of 1200 (1190 is the exact numb,er without the Constabulary at Tapuaehararu) at the extreme end of the open country, at a cost it is frightful to contemplate, arid just in time to shoot the tail end of one Te Kooti's detachments. The Uriweras. and Te Heu. Heu would not share the dangers of the day, but Te Kooti, daring to the last, stood and showed fight at about the 'o<Jcls of

one man to eight. Had there been fewer of these wretched friendlles he would have been followed and possibly caught. But, as it 'is, the official despatches may describe movements and name commanding officers, but practically the natives do as they like, and will'do no other. Of course b,ad Te Kooti been really surrounded and his force destroyed, bungle as they might the Government would have reaped the often undeserved laurels, of success. But as he hasnotbeenmaterially weakened, and has been driven dovnto Titokowaru in the dense jungles of the West Coast bush, the case stands otherwise. The great cost, waste of time, and, worse than all, loss of prestige to our color, involved in these lumbering operations of the friendly Maoris during the last two months, bid fair to perpetuate war on both sides of the island, and to. produce that concert between the rebel leaders which has hitherto been wanting. The dawdling and unsystematic Movements of the various columns are probably due to the interference of the Defence or Hative Office. TJp to the last affair we. had had the worst of such skirmishes as bad taken place, and Te. Kooti had lost only a few men in stripping otir mounted natives of all their horsea (170) and a herd of cattle. Things changed a liitle when Kemp came up wi..h his own troop of 75 men. These natives, accustomed to discipline under Col. Whitmoie, and the little body of the Guides, no sooner saw the enemy than they dashed into the cariacaTture redoubt he. had erected. The loss, except the lamented death of Capt. St. George, was all borne by these Wanganui native regulars, and Kemp has to mourn his best officers and men,. Had the force all consisted of resolute and obedient fighting men, Te Kooti's chance would have been poor enough. But Kemp con Id hardly be expected to go on alone after such losses, and for some unexplained reason no Europeans except the Guides were pushed on. There was possibly a chance for the Government at the last fight by extraordinary exertion, but less than a complete destruction of Te Kooti's band was worse than defeat. It was the business of the Government, by rapid concentration two months ago, or in say eight days after they changed their views of military subjects, to have put a heavy hand on Te Kooti while he was in the open country, for they may rest assured tbat chance will never return.

Handled as the Government has handled them, constituted as the force was, no satisfactory or definite result could be gained by the troops. Better and more wise to have built a bridge of gold to the flying enemy, and have allowed him to return to the Uriwera,s. There he would have been easily blockaded, and, witi?. the West Coast tranquil, nothingwould have prevented conclusive operations during the summer. The Uriweras are even now up and doing ; they have, we leatn, broken out at Whakatane and defeated our forces tfcere already, and, at this moment, we cannot avoid pursuing Te Kooti fi'om the Lake, watching Titokowaru on the West Coast, and preparing for IJriwera incursions on the East. The risk of the "Runanga line was justifiable lor a short, sharp expedition, it is now absurd. Ten men at any moment can surprise and seize the powder escorts on their march, and the most enterprising of our enemies are actually living but a few miles off, and the country is their ©wn.

We regret that we do not yet see any ground for hoping that we have recovered the leeway lost at the accession of the Ministry to power.' It must be some months before the same confidence can return. Moreover, we cannot compliment them on their mode of trying to put things on their old footing, any more than on their consistency of opinion about the war. We hear complaints of the unusual endeavors to burke the. truth by espionnage and, othet unworthy means; it is as. idle as. it is.

contemptible to try this, and unprovoked because this Government knows it is not, like the preceding; one, assailed by vituperation, mis-: representation, and intrigue, with the avowed object of thwarting its military operations; moreover, it knows how simple is its task compared with that of its predecessors, for it has only to combat the enemy in the field. We wish them to. succeed, but we shall never flinch from publishing the truth. We dislike their political principles, but would scorn to follow their lead of last year, merely because we regret that better men are not in power. There is quite enough to sadden us in what we see without striving to make matters worse, as they did by their pens last year. We chafe at the obligation we are placed under to the friendly natives, who will repay it one day by undisguised contempt, if not by blows. It galls our feelings of self-respect to learn that our men are used as second fiddles to these creatures. We deplore the loss to the Colony of the brave, prudent, and steady-minded Herrick, the man who had the confidence of all, and who was a safeguard in case of re verse against the flightier and less trusted M'Donnell. Both are brave, but Herrick's are rarer qualities — he has the mens aqua in arduis so few possess. We learn that he will serve no longer under the Fox-M'Lean regime. On the other hand, we hear official rumours that Te Heu Heu U to surrender, and the "King" corning to help Mr Ormond ! When these things happen, and the last pack-loads of salt sent up by the Government agent have been successfully applied to Te Kooti's tail, we will echo the panegyrics of our contemporary.