Original Correspondence.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 150, 6 November 1847, Page 3

Original Correspondence.

To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — I beg leave to furnish you with copy of a letter addressed to his Excellency the Governor, requesting that it may be made public. Your's, &c, JR.. Maunsell. [ COPY. ] Waikato Heads, October 18th, 1847. Sir, — That a Clergyman should have but little to do with politics, is a remark of which I fully admit the propriety. Still, when principles opposed to religion or justice are advanced— or when there is growing through the community a dangerous feeling of which others cannot ohtain as accurate knowledge, he would, I consider, be unfaithlul to his couutry and his cause, if he were to decline expressing his sentiments, or giving a warning. It ><> lor these two reasons that I venture thus to trespa— >ipou your attention. Your Excellency is no doubt aware of the prominent part that the Missionary body took, on the arrival of Captain Hobson, in inducing the Aborigines to acknowledge the sovereign power of the Queen. For those efforts we received public acknowledgements from Captain Hobson and his Officers. Since then, it wMI, I trust, be admitted that we have been the firm advocates of Briti.li rule, and the watchful promoters of peace. We hf ye not, I trust, deserted the interests of our people, 1 iut in maintaining' those interests we have ever (and to a larger extent than is generally known), urged them to the duty of obedience. The late Despatches, from Earl Grey, with the Instructions accompanying them, will, if acted upon, compel us, 1 fear, to assume, at least in appearance, a somewhat different position in future. Reports and surmises are now spreading through the country. Every visitor to Auckland brings back a confirmation, —and the question is then put to us, "Is it true V* To such a question, I find it difficult to answer. Silence is interpreted into assent. To answer in the negative, I cannot. These Instructions and the Despatch are, we see, the carrying out of the resolutions and report presented by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, July, 184*, (of which also, Earl Grey was I believe, the chief author ;) and they all indicate an uniform, preconcerted plan, a plan which, though rejected by the then Colonial Secretary, is now revived with authority, and furnished with machinery for being carried into operation. In all these documents we see indeed the maintenance of the Waitangi Treaty ostentatiously put forward; but we detect throughout the whole, what far counterbalances such averments. Not only do we miss the kind spirit of parental interest that was evinced by former Colonial Secretaries towards the aborigines ; but we see also a strong inclination also to censure that treaty ; and, if not a plain disclaimer, at least a plain attempt to evade its force. This being the case, we find our position most perplexing. Our people have heard us repeatedly affirm the high honour and justice of our government, and the interest it has always taken in the protecting and fostering aboriginal races. They now ask us,—" Why is the Treaty of Waitangi thus virtually broken 1 why for the sake of a few useless spots, that could have been purchased for a comparative trifle, is a train laid for involving the whole island in a flame V If it were merely the honour and interest of the British government that were concerned in the question, we might fairly decline engaging in such discussions. But unfortunately we are too deeply involved to be allowed to be silent. " For you," say they, " urged us to acknowledge the Sovereign power of the Queen. We did so on your assurances that our lands should not be touched. It appears now that the Queen is dissatisfied with that agreement, and is preparing to take our lands by force. Thus have we been deceived by you, into feeding the child, until he becomes a man, and strangles us." This, Sir, is the only point in which I have been as yet accused, (and that by some of the leading men of the district), with having betrayed their interests. How to answer, I know not. It is not very gratifying to one's feelings to have to fasten a charge of breach of faith upon one's country,— a country also confessedly the most noble spirited that has yet been recorded in the pages of history. Neither, on the other hand, would it appear wise to bear such aspersions without offering an explanation. For we cannot but feel that our influence as religious teachers, as well as our very residence among them, is most intimately connected with the confidence they repose in us as their friends and advisers. The only course that some of our body have seen out of the difficulty is, to leave the country as soon as you begin to act upon those instructions ; others will, I hope, remain ; but if they do remain, they will have no other alternative left than to set the whole matter fairly before their people ; to shew that we never contemplated such measures on the part of our government, when we induced them to sign the treaty, and that though we were guilty of a mistake, we were not at least guilty of an attempt at deception. I trust Sir, that I may never see the day in which Englishmen will forget that national houour is an essential part of national dignity. The greater the power, the more striking will be an act of meanness. From the day on which the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, the conduct of the New Zealanders toward the British has been marked by a spirit of chivalry, of friendship, and of good faith. They have cheerfully ceded the rights of sovereignty, and pre-emption ; and for a very small compensation have willingly endured fatigue, and faced death against their own relatives, in defence of that authority thus ceded. What, I would ask, has been given by the British Government to them in return 1 It surely cannot be considered an equivalent that a powerful nation, that has already subdued and destroyed so many aboriginnl tribes, has settled on their shores. It has been by all parties admitted that this colony has not been founded by force, but by compact. A compact implies advantages given as well as received. What has been received by the British government is vi&ible to all ;

what has been given to the New Zealander it is difficult to discover. Former Colonial Secretaries did indeed give something. They gave us approbatory sentences and kind recommendations. These were encouraging ; we took the will for the deed, and were thankful. Earl Grey seems only to regard this people as being not far from the lowest in the scale of human existence, and unworthy of the little they now retain. His Lordship will, I hope, recollect that if the civilized man has claims, he has also duties ; and that to those beneath us in the degree of advancement, we should exhibit our eminence, not merely in skill and power j but in the more exalted qualities of benevolence and truth. Ths bill lately brought forward by your Excellency for the Education of the Aborigines, I regard as the only practical acknowledgment as yet made by the government, of the value of those influences, by means of which it has so peaceably established itself in this island. Whether that bill will be permanent and successful in its operation, experience alone can decide. Still, considering the opinion that is now taking hold of the native mind, that the English nation delights in usurpation and war, I cannot but hail such a measure as most beneficial. If it be effectual, it will be a boon to the country ; and a boon, that lam sure, you wil regard as much an offering to justice, as to philanthropy. It will perhaps be urged that the aborigines have received the privileges of British subjects. What those privileges are I have yet to learn. They contribute upwards of £ 10,000 per annum to the revenue of the colony, while they have no one in the Legislative Council to represent their interest, or to raise his voice in their namp against an act of injustice. Controul over the sale of their lands they must, it seems, be considered to have entirely surrendered. The British government not only firmly grasps all thus ceded : but now demands more. Waste, Unclaimed, Unoccupied, are, in the vocabulary of Earl Grey, all one and the same in meaning. Those mystic words, Sovereignty and Pre-emption, are then called into requisition ; and made to serve the same purposes as did the ox hide in hands of a proto -colonist of former times. They are to be stretched into such convenient lengths, as to enclose just as much as the more powerful and more crafty are pleased to determine. England has her unoccupied territories ; and no doubt Earl Grey has his unsubdued lands ranged over by nothing else than the deer and the pheasant. So also has the New Zealander his bird preserves, his" runs," (the grand sources of supply to our colonial markets,) his useful timbers, his valuable plants, his fisheries, and localities sacred in his regards as having been the abode of his forefathers, the scenes of their triumphs, or the resting places of their bones. . And why now does the statesman of such a wealthy nation seek to confiscate these the guaranteed possessions of our friends and allies ? Why does he not ponder before he advances arguments so palpably weak? before he proceeds to crample upon the acknowledged rights of a people that commands the admiration of our Captains, — of a people most deeply interesting to the thoughts of the philanthropist ?— before he thus exposse to the contempt and ridicule of their own converts, his fellow subjects, who risked their lives in the benevolent mission of the grand Christian bodies of the mother country ; who risked their influence and success in obtaining for their Sovereign, the bloodless cession of the most promising island in these seas 1 A reference to Captain Hobson's communications will show that I took a large share in these proceedings. I think, therefore, I have a right among others, to be heard in this announcement of these new measures. Captain Hobson recorded my letter to him of April 14, 1840, in which 1 expressed my sense of the responsibility I had incurred, and my strong confidence in the honor of the British government, (which letter I take tile liberty to forward for your inspection). I trust I am not asking too much if I beg your Excellency to forward this my protest against those instructions and that despatch ; so that if my country will be unjust, I may at least eujoy the gratification of having made it known that it was not for such a purpose that 1 consented to become her instrument. I remain, &c, (Sigued] R. Maunsell. To His Excellency, Governor Grey, &c, &c.

Extract from letter to the Colonial Secretary. (Referred to in foregoing.) April 14-, 1840. ' "In forwarding the accompanying document, I would beg to observe, in reference to ourselves, that cordially as we desire to co operate witli Governor Hobson in all measures consistent with our principles, we cannot but state, that we feel strongly the responsibility incurred in the eyes of the natives, by the steps we are now adopting. " I would beg iherefore with all deference to add, that having put ourselves thus prominently forward in obtaining an acknowledgment of the sovereign power of the Queen, on the part of the natives, so we trust, that that acknowledgment will never be made, even apparently, the basis of any measure that may hereafter result in their prejudice. " The steps we have taken have been taken in full dependence on the well known lenity and honour of the British government, and we rest assured, that we shall never hereafter find ourselves to have been in these particulars mistaken." (Signed) R Maunsell.

To the Editor of the New Zealcwter. Sm } — 1 concur with your correspondent " JJ." in your last uumber, on the propriety of Quarantine regulations ; but Sir, a more certaiu danger is lurking near us than can arrive from without. We are on the eve of the warm season, when every stagnant pool sends out its noxious vapour, and it behoves us to look to the state of the drains arid sewers of the town. From open, exposed accumulations, comparatively little danger is to be apprehended, but it is not generally known that many of the houses in the lower part of the town, even in lower Shortland street, and Queen street, actually cover stagnant waters, which cannot escape, from the decayed and neglected state of the sewers. Such pools are redo lent of all sorts of filth, and on the inset of hot wea ther, must emit effluvie of the most nauseous na ture, and pregnant with putrid and other malignant feveis. This is no imagined danger, but may be easily verified by any officer the government may delegate to enquire into it. It may be said that the proprietor of the tenements ought to look to the matter, but in every town that is governed, it is the duty of the authorities to obviate the remissness, or ignorance of its inhabitants, in such matters ; and the Police inspector might so far unbend as to admit a little variety into the motonyol' his daiiy muster-roll. The health of the inhabitants has certainly been consulted in the late enactment of the •' Slaughterhouse Ordinance ;'* still, the drainage and sewerage oi a town is of primary importance, and as prevention is better than remedy, 1 would press attention to the necessity of some immediate steps. AN INHABITANT. Auckland, sth Nov., 1847.

H. M. S. has brought but a very small mail from Wellington, consisting of a few letters and newspapers, the schooner Triton having sailed only the day before for this port with the Wellington mail and the English one brought to that pott by the Saghalien. No recent hostilities of any consequence are reported to have occurred the Southward, but the Wanganui natives were still vapouring about war, and Major Wyatt and hism en occupied the stockade* We copy the following from the only paper in our possession. An invitation to a public dinner was forwarded to Capt. Stanley K. N., by the trades men and mechanics of Port Nicholson, on the occasion of his leaving this settlement ; but in consequence of the immediate depaituie of the Calliope, Capt. Stanley was reluctantly obliged to de line Hie intended honour. On Monday evening there was a very numerous meeting of the friends of the Temperance cause at Thorndon. The meeting was held in one of the buildings forming part of the new barracks lately built by Mr. Mills. The chair was taken ihortly after five o'clock by the Rev. J. Inglis, who, with Messrs. Woodward and Harding, severally addressed the meeting. The attendance was unusually numerous, there being upwards of three hundred persons present.-* Through the kindness of Colonel Gold, the baud of the 65th regiment was in attendance, and played a selection of popular airs during the evening. A considerable collection was made a the doors, and after paying the necessary expenses of the meeting, we understand the remainder will be added to the fund now forming by the members of the Society for building a Temperance Hall. Among the petsons present were Lieut-Col. M'Cleverly, Lieut.- Col. Gold 1 , Capt. O'Connell, Capt. Sotheby, 11. N., and several other patrons and well-wishers of the Temperance cause. The meeting broke up shortly after nine o'clock.