The New Zealander. SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1847. MR. THORPE’S LETTER TO EARL GREY.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 100, 1 May 1847, Page 2

The New Zealander. SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1847.

MR. THORPE’S LETTER TO EARL GREY.

Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thou ainis’t at, be tliy Country’s, Thy God’s, and Truth’s.

The writer of this letter, which is inserted in our present number, is the worthy individual whose premises in the district of the Thames were, some months since, as our readers will recollect, accidently destroyed by fire. The letter itself treats of the wrongs of New Zealand and their remedies'-subjects, once possessing deep interest for the settlers, but now, that the colony has been for some time sailing before the wind, beginning, happily, to be forgotten. From the foundation of the colony down to the close of the year 1845, they have been continually discussed in eur public prints, and formed the groundwork of several memorials addressed by the settlers to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. They have been discussed in books written upon the affairs of New Zealand, in the London newspapers, in the House of Commons, and in a Select Committee of that house. Finally, Captain Grey came to the colony, specially commissioned to investigate the causes of the confusion which prevailed in it, and the proper remedies of the several evils complained of. At the moment at which we write, it is well known to the imperial government and to the people of England, lhat he has executed the task assigned to him, in a manner and to an extent, fully answering the expectations formed of him. The remedies actually applied by himself have been in operation during a year, and have given general

satisfaction to the settlers. The two most important remedies, necessarily submitted to the management of the imperial government, will soon be in operation. We refer to the new constitution, and the regulations under which the waste lands of the crown, or lands the property of the natives, will be hereafter sold, demised, or granted for occupation under license. Of all the difficulties, then, by which the government of New Zealand was encumbered at the date of Captain Grey’s arrival in the colony, there is only one still unsettled, and even part of that will not be long in abeyance. The strictly legal rights of the new land claimants will soon be ascertained in the Supreme Court of the colony, from which, in the mean time, every claimant without exception calculates with perfect confidence upon a sound and upright decision. Under these circumstances, our readers will at once perceive, that the subjects discussed in Mr. Thorpe’s letter, are now little better than mere matters of speculative curiosity, and that a detailed consideration of them could answer no useful purpose. The letter itself we publish, with that cheerfulness with which we always publish the sentiments of our fellowsettlers concerning the affairs of the colony, however wide they may be of any practical object, and however different they may be from any views entertained by ourselves, if we can only persuade ourselves that the writers are really in earnest, as Mr. Thorpe seems to be. But, for the reasons which we have just mentioned, we would have forborne to remark upon it, did we not believe, that tha circumstance of Mr. Thorpe’s being an old settler, combined with the misfortune to which we adverted before, though of a purely accidental character, gave him claims upon our attention which we could not altogether overlook.

The causes of all the disasters of this colony, during the first five years of its existence, were, according to Mr. Thorpe, the want of a representative government, the £l per acre system, and the mismanagement of the natives. Several of the most important causes are wholly omitted. No notice is taken of the fact, that the imperial government was compelled by the illegal proceedings of the New Zealand company to enter upon the colonization of New Zealand, without any previous preparation against the many difficulties and dangers by which the enterprize was on every side beset, The dishonest and slovenly purchases made by the company from the natives, the confusion inevitably attendant upon government carried on at a distance of sixteen thousand miles, the immense difficulty of moving the huge machine of the British government to the prompt consideration of colonial grievances, and the long train of difficulties arising out of the very singular condition in which we found the aboriginal inhabitants, are not even so much as alluded to. There is, nevertheless, not one of these causes, which has not exercised considerable influence in the production of the events which Mr. Thorpe proposes to explain. But, his classification is not merely deficient in point of number. It is extremely doubtful, whether two of his three causes have hitherto produced any appreciable evils in New Zealand. Though we wou’d not yield to Mr. Thorpe or to any other person, in the uncompromising assertion of the rights, claims, and privileges of our fellow-settle* s, we must be permitted to doubt, whether the establishment of a representation when the colony was founded, could have averted any one of the disasters by which New Zealand was subsequently visited. The unofficial members of the councils which preceded that lately summoned by Capt. Grey, were never charged with a want of spirit or firmness in the assertion of the rights, or the representation of the views, wants, and wishes of the settlers. On the contrary, in and even out of the colony, they were accused, ignorantly and unjustly, as we believe, of presumption and violence, unsuited alike to the age of the colony, and the attainment of their professed objects. Representative members might have gone a little farther, or might have said or done a little more. But, that they could have said or done any thing, over and above what was said and done by the unofficial members, which could avert, or have any tendency to avert, any of the calamities which were then befalling the colony, is a position, which, because it could not be maintained for a moment, would never have been advanced by any person really familiar with the history ot the colony. Upon the other hand, the agitation inseparable from representative institutions, superadded to that produced by the distracted condition of the coloay, would have torn the infant community to pieces, and thus, in this and in many other ways, a representation must necessarily have produced evils greatly overbalancing any advantages to he derived from it during the period in question. But, still, Mr. Thorpe will have it, that the right ot British men to representative government is derived from natural justice and magna carta > and can therefore never be forfeited. Now, if such a right were really founded on natural justice, it would belong equally to all men, and, though this corollary from Mr. Thorpe’s principle would not be very flatter* ing to British men, yet it must be a great consolation to the settlers of New Zealand to learn, that, if they have been deprived of cer-

tain rights for a period of eight years, the corresponding rights of the great bulk of the human family have been grossly outraged in all times and places. As to magma carta, the representative principle is very slightly developed in that celebrated document. King John merely promises, that he will summon certain tenants in chief under the crown hy the sheriff's and bailiffs, to meet the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons, who were to be summoned personally, for the purpose of assessing aids and scutages. The representative principle is certainly acknowledged in this passage, and, it may be fairly concluded from it, that the people of England could never be deprived of a representation, in some form or other, without a violation of this solemn compact. But, with the exception of Mr, Thorpe, we never heard of any person who ventured to affirm, that settlers in British colonies could claim a representative government upon the strength of this passage,it being quite impossible that the idea of a colony could, at the date of the contract, have entered the minds of the contracting parties, and equally impossible to suppose, that the words or even the spirit of the particular passage in question, could have been intended to extend beyond the limits of England. If, however, we take the other side of the question for a moment, and suppose with Mr. Thorpe, that the great charter entitles British men resident in the colonies to a representative government, then, again, we have to congratulate ourselves, that, while we have been deprived ol a certain right only for a period of eight years, several of the oldest of Her Majesty's colonies have not yet obtained the same right. It is only very lately that a representative government was conferred upon New South Wales, and Van Diemen's Land has not yet obtained one. The settlers of New South Wales had not a representation when their number exceeded 130,000,

But, in making these remarks, we must not be misunderstood. We agree with Mr. Thorpe in thinking, that the government of a fullgrown colony by an official executive and legislative council is the most detestable, because the most contemptible, of all the forms of tyrany to which civilized men have been ever subjected. Indeed, the very idea of this loathsome species of tyranny pver grown colonies instantly drives the blood to the region of the heart. With Mr. Thorpe, we would, under such circumstances, prefer the government of a Nero, to the lazy, brutal, and degradin'* dominion of an official aristocracy. The addi” tion to the legislative council of an unofficial minority, appointed by the governor, may modify such a form of tyranny, but can not essentially alter it. These very forms of government, nevertheless, so intolerable to large colonial communities, have been found by experience to be the only ones suited to infant societies in the British plantations, and it has been the enviable lot of New Zealand alone, of all Her Majesty’s colonies, not to have had a representation when it must have proved to be a curse to her, and to have obtained it at the precise time when that form of government and the condition of the colony were mutually adapted one to the other. Tlis new constitution, as far as the real nature of it can be gleaned fiom the New Zealand Government Act, has been already fully discussed in this journal. Instead of joining Mr. Thorpe in carping at that measure, our conceptions of which must at present be incomplete, or in entering upon the endless task of discussing other forms of representative government, we hope, we shall be considered by our fellow settlers to act with more grace and propriety, in ackowledging, upon this occasion, our obligation to the imperial government for conferring so great a boon upon New Zealand, and for the pains which it has taken, without any regard to expense, to render the colony fit for the reception of it.

As to the £l per acre system, though we can by no means subscribe to every thing said upon it by Mr. Thorpe, yet we cheerfully acknowledge, that his statements upon this subject are generally correct and sensible. In a former number of this journal, we expressed our views upon the whole subject at full length. At present, we are only concerned to shew, that, hitherto, no sensible inconvenience has been sustained by this mode of disposing of the waste lands of the crown in New Zealand, and that the system of free trade in land, which Mr. Thorpe proposes to substitute for it, is wholly untenable. The only country land ever sold in New Zealand under the *6*l per acre system, derived, from its vicinity to Auckland, an artificial value fully equal to the upset price. Distant country laud could not be sold by the local government at the rate of £1 per acre, for the very simple reason, that no body could be found foolish enough to give that price for it. The exchanges which Capt. Fitzßoy’s government made with the old land claimants, in the year i 844, brought a considerable tract of land in the ne;ghbourhood of Auckland into the market, at rates very much lower than that at which the government could sell it. For some time after this event, the purchasers of country land from the government found it, of course, impossible to alienate their lands without considerable loss. In point of fact, however, very few of them were compelled to do so until the equilibrium was somewhat restored,, In the

mean time, there was an abundant supply of excellent land in the immediate vicinity of the capital for sale, upon very reasonable terms, and, at this moment, the supply of good land, at no great distance from Auckland, and at a cheap rate, greatly exceeds the' demand. Such is the simple history of the £l per acre system in New Zealand, and a mere glance at it will be sufficient to shew, that its operation hitherto has not been productive of any direct evils. An accidental circumstance, undoubtedly, caused it to produce indirectly a slight amount of temporary inconvenience. But this very circumstance prevented the occurrence of the evils, which, up to the present day, might have otherwise followed from the system. Nothing, therefore, can be more truly ridiculous, than the thrusting forward of the £i per acre system as one of the causes of the disasters which have befallen New Zealand.

Though, however, the .evils essentially involved in thi system have hitheito. either not been produced at all, or been accidentally prevented, they would soon begin to be felt and we agree with Mr. Thorpe in that, at no distant date, they would be found to strike at the root of real colonization, by compelling concentration, and thereby preventing pastoral pursuits almost altogether, and agricultural operations upon a large scale. But the new regulations, under which stockkeepers and farmers can carry on their pursuits, without expending, any part of their capital upon the purchase ofland, appearto us to be a perfect remedy for all the evils involved in the £1 per acre.system, Mr. Thorpe, however, * has a perfect right to propose his own remedy, which, it seems, is nothing short of free trade in land. But this imaginary remedy labours under difficulties apparently insuperable. ‘ In the first place, it flies in the face of that principle of tenure, which has prevailed from time immemorial in every part of the British dominions, namely, that every valid title to land must have been ultimately derived from the crown, Crown grants, in-, deed, might be issued to the purchasers from the natives upon the payment of a nominal fee ; but this would obviously be an evasion of the principle in question, so very flimsy, as to amount iu fact to a mockery of it. Again, Mr. Thorpe’s supposed remedy (and he seems himself not to be quite ignorant of this defect of it) would plainly convert the settlers into one great mass of land-jobbers, whose mutual competition, combined with the slow influx of emigrants with capital, would soon awaken them from their golden dreams, while, in the mean time, the lands would lie uncultivated and unimproved, and the progress of the colony be therefore suspended. But, the fatal objection to free trade in land is derived from the effect that it would necessarily produce upon the mode of raising the revenue of the colony. The expenses arising out of our obligations to the natives,.and several others, are chargeable upon the laud fund. In the absence of that fund, the sums required, for meeting these expenses must be raised by duties upon exports, increased duties upon imports, or by direct taxation of property and income. Thus, in place of a tax, which would be paid by every settler, cheerfully, and, once for all, for one of the most prized of human possessions, Mr. Thorpe would impose never ceasing taxes upon the necessaries, decencies, and luxuries of life, and perhaps upon property and all of which would, there can be little reason to doubt, be considered unjust and oppressive, and would therefore become constant sources of discontent and irritation.

Thus, two of the causes assigned by Mr* Thorpe for the calamities which have hitherto befallen New Zealand have, in reality* not been concerned at all in their production. He has, however, been more fortunate in his third cause. The mismanagement of the natives has certainly been the source of many inconveniences and of some tragic occurrences. The great progress which, by the joint and longcontinued influence of trade and religion, the natives had made in civilization before the colony was founded, their independent character and martial habits, their clear knowledge of the value of land, and many other circumstances which distinguished them from the aboriginal inhabitants of all other colonies, were either very little understood, or very little appreciated in England. The amalgamation of such a race with British settlers, and their government, as one united people, was one of the nicest colonial problems ever submitted to the management of the imperial government. Instructions, philosophically conceived and beautifully expressed, were issued for its solution by the Secretary of State for the colonies to the local government. Bat, unhappily, no means were supplied for carrying out the instructions. The half-civilized man was not taiight by a wise exhibition of our power, that we were able to chastise his insolence or punish his occasional outrages. The revenue of the colony was not sufficient for the payment of the salaries of the government officers, and no sums were ever voted by parliament for promoting the civilization of the natives. Thus, their passions, twice' as violent and inflamable as those of the settlers, were left unawed by the presence of an adequate military and naval force, while their understandings, inferior by the half'to those of British men, were never enlarged by that systematic training in the arts of social indus-

try, which is an indispensable preliminary to their amalgamation with the settlers. The local government had not the spirit to render that service to the natives, which alone, under these circumstances, they conld have rendered to them. There is no evidence of their haying ever transmitted to their masters in Downingstreet, a manly and vigorous representation of the real condition, and the real wants of the aboriginal inhabitants. Neglected alike by the imperial and by the local government, the en. tire management of them fell into the hands of the clergy, and it is but common justice to say, that the ecclesiastical training of the natives has been carried on up to the present day with judgment and vigour. . . „ . . The vast progress already made by Captain Grey in the solution of all the difficulties connected with the native question, not only exposes the amount of previous mismanagement, but causes the great body of the settlers to regret it more deeply than before. Ihe judgment with winch he chastised the rebellious natives, has indelibly impressed the idea of British.power upon their minds, with-; out alienating .their affections. The immediate effects of this lesson will be always sufficiently sustained by the presence of an adequate naval and military force. For the perfect security of the out settlers, and the preservation of order in every part of the colony, the new police force and the militia will be more than sufficient. In the mean time, several ordinances, forming ike basis of a system of laws for the government of the two, races as one united people, are now for some time m operation, and giv'ng general satisfaction. For more than half a year, the labourers upon all the public works have been almost exclusively na fives, and their patience of continued labour, and extreme docility in learning the. different trades, have convinced the most incredulous "of their almost unlimited capability of improvement in all the arts of civilised life. Between the settlers in the district of Auckland, and the dense native population which surrounds it, no jnisunderstanding has ever arisen. The twp races in. this district are firmly bound together by the strongest of all ties, that of mutual interest. Signs of better feelings between the settlers and the natives in the southern district, than once existed, daily present themselves. In fine, the foundations of peace, order, security, and improvement, are so deeply laid, that they can not be again seriously disturbed by any causes within the reach of human foresight. But, we are reminded by the jaundiced mind of Mr. Thorpe of the pos- . sibilities of things. We agree with him in thinking, that a madman like Heke. may, from time to time, exhibit symptoms of revolt, and that .an unhanged outlaw like Rangihaeata may jcommit a robbery biennially. .But, if the means of inflicting instantaneous punishment are in our hands, have we the shadow of a reason for being dismayed by. these mere .possibilities ? With due deference to Mr. Thorpe, however, ■we beg leave, to affirm with confidence, that the possibilities which he contemplates, are very much less likely to be realised in New Zealand, than corresponding ones in England* It is now our bounden duty to our fellowsettlers, to apologise to them for seeming to attach any importance to Mr. Thorpe’s letter. The truth is, that, over and above the reasons which we have already given for noticing it, we were unwilling that a document, so injurious to the colony in its tendency, should go before the people of England, before it was proved on the spot to be, what it really is, a tissue of trash almost from beginning to end.