MEMORIAL of the INHABITANTS of NELSON to SIR EVERARD HOME.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 85, 21 October 1843, Page 338

MEMORIAL of the INHABITANTS of NELSON to SIR EVERARD HOME.

To Captain Sir Everard Home, Bart., C.8., Commander of H.M.S. North Star.

Nelson, October 10, 1843. Sir — We, the undersigned inhabitants of this settlement, beg leave to call your attention, as a British naval officer and commander on the Australian station, to our present position. The population of this settlement at present amounts to about 3,000 souls, who emigrated to this country after it was declared a colony of the British Crown, and naturally expected that protection which the Crown of England affords to its subjects.

It is unnecessary to allude to the melancholy events which have been the cause of your visiting us, further than to state that, at the time of their occurrence, this settlement was, and has since remained, till the period of your arrival here, without any other protection than its inhabitants (previously unaccustomed to military preparations) have afforded to themselves.

Before the massacre of our fellow countrymen at the Wairoo, the semi-barbarous and warlike tribes in our vicinity generally speaking conducted themselves in a peaceful manner, and seemed to believe in the justice and in the power of the British law : but, since that melancholy occurrence, emboldened by a successful resistance to it, and their innate ferocity roused by the shedding of human blood, they have a shown a temper which cannot be regarded even by those least disposed to alarm without serious apprehension. Within the last month, natives from the neighbourhood of Nelson, as well as natives from dis* tant parts of the country, have threatened the lives of several of our fellow colonists, and have even proceeded to acts of violence, openly repudiating any appeal to British law. Without any pretence to. proprietorship, within the very limits of our town, they have cut down our timber, entered inclosures, helped themselves to the crop, and shaken their tomahawks at those who remonstrated with them*

Under such a state of things, our community — harassed continually with new alarms, and compelled to turn its attention from the promotion of its peaceful interests to preparations for the de-« fence of life and property — has been kept in a state of feverish excitement, which has destroyed all feeling of security, checked the enterprise of the settlers, and which, if unallayed, cannot but prove ruinous to the settlement.

We look anxiously for the arrival of the recently appointed Governor of the colony, confident that he will use rigorous measures for our protection and the geaeral advancement of our prosperity. But an interval must necessarily elapse, in which, if left itx our hitherto unprotected state, our interests will materially suffer, and which we must look forward to with the greatest anxiety. As subjects of the British Crown, governed by the usual executive officers, taxed to a heavy amount for the maintenance of the Government, and at all times ready to pay implicit obedience to British law, we conceive ourselves entitled* to protection. And we contrast with feelings of surprise and pain our situation here, undefended and prohibited from defending ourselves, with the condition of 50 subjects of the French nation at Akaroa, living ia perfect security under the constant protection of a vessel of war.

Humanity to the natives, no less than justice to British subjects, demands the presence of a protecting force. The law at present is powerless, nor can its authority be reasserted until the presence of a sufficient physical force shall make it evident both to the native and to the European that its obligations cannot be disregarded with impunity.

We earnestly request you to afford us that protection (the necessity of which must be so apparent to you), either by the presence of your frigate in our neighbourhood, or by leaving a portion of the force on board of it in this settlement. Sincerely trusting that you will accede to our i request, we have the honour to be, sir, ' Your obedient, humble servants, [Here follow the signatures.]