Original Correspondence.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 172, 22 January 1848, Page 2

Original Correspondence.

To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — Averie to public (Inclusion, especially on political subjects, and unconnected with party interests and patty feelings, I cannot be uncomcioui that I am descending from a peaceful vantage-ground, by making the present communication. Indeed, nothing less could, on such an occasion, induce me to come for* ward, than a btrong sense of duty to vindicate the honor of my friend, the Venerable Archdeacon Henry Williams, as well as the u'isullied motrres of that highly reipectaMe individual, who compiled the pamphlet, known by thi» title oi " Pla n Facts." Iv your leading article of last Saturday, the 15th iti't, you transfer part of the authorship of that pamphlet to the credit of your contemporary, the Editor of the Southern Cross; and you further asiert, " that it is a po.itical pamphlet, got up as a part of the machinery by which the public opinion was hoped to be influenced in the all-absorbing question of landclaims." In these asiertions, permit me to say, you have been evidently betrayed into serious errors. At early as the month of May, 1847, the manuscript

containing " tli- Plain Facts," was forwarded to a friend for his approval, with a view to its immediate publication. At that time, it was not known that his Excellency the Governor intended to question the legality of those grants which Captain Fitzroy made to some of the Musionaries for the benefit of their children. Nor had the Southern Cross again appeared on our horizon. How then could the pamphlet in question have a political object affecting *' the all absorbing question of land-clainis," when this very question had n)t yet bjen brought before the public ; and when the Missionaries themselves had no idea that their title to the land of their children would ever be disturbed ? And how then could the Editor of the Southern Cross undertake to weave the " thread of Facts'' into the pamphlet in question ? I venture to say that it would wear a rougher garment had it come from such a loom. But the question may be asked, if the materials for this pamphlet were thug early prepared, why did it come so late before the public ? The answer to this inquiry will yet more ezpose the errors into which you have been betrayed. I must here add a fact to the "Plain Facts" now published; the fact is this, that circumstances alogether remote from political considerations, and of no interest to the public, unfortunately detained the manuscript in the bands of the individual who had it sent to him for his approval, till nearly the time when the question of land claims came under agitation. This question of land claims, however, could not interfere with the previous intention of the compiler of submitting those "' Plain Facts'' to the public, in the shape of a pamphlet. On the return of the manuscript, and previous to its going to press, 1 was allowed to peruse it. I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying that if the pamphlet were compared with the original, word for word would be found correct. But whether such a comparison be instituted or not, so much is evident, that the Editor of the Southern Cross had as little to do with the compi - lation or wording of that pamphlet, as you or any other publiiher of a paper could have. The castisjation, consequently, which you intended to bestow on your contemporary, is, on this occasion, undeserved, and must in a manner recoil upon yourself. But my object is not to defend the Editor of the Southern Cross. I leave that to himself. My object is to jmt you in a right position, in order that y ju may recal the aspersions, either directly or by implication cast upon my friends, and to enable you to maintain the laudable motto of the New Zealander :— " Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aim'st at, be Thy Couutry'b, thy God's, and Truth's. 1 I am, Sir, your'i, &c, &c. G. A. KISSLING. Parewa, Jan. IS, 1848.