NEW ZEALAND, From the Evening Mail, Nov. 10.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 191, 29 March 1848, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND, From the Evening Mail, Nov. 10.

Tl>e accounts from IsVw Zealand which have been recently publ.shed being soincwh.it confused, have j;iven use to an imj)u">sion that the nnhlaiy operation undert-kt'n agiiinst the niUucs have not been fik < psful, utul that our relations with them are unsatisfactory. Nothing ran well be more untrue. Not only how the natives been repulsed in their attack upon the English settlement hy the bravery of a small detachment of Hutish troops, but tiny have been cntuely dispen-cd by the friendly native tubes. The oiij'in of the recent distui bances has, in bnef, heen as follows .—A muMiipman of her Majesty's ship Culhopp, Ly accident, shot a native through the head with a pistol. We a c surre this view of the eire to he cornet on Governor Grey'.s authority, as he is a n an unlikely to falsify facts, and must be well aware of the z*e<il history ol the calamitous occurrence. The native^ however, would not suffer themselves to be convinced that the mjuij was inflicted by accident. They either did, or weie determined to helievp, that their countiy--nan had been deliberately muidcred, and swore to tike bloody revenge for liih death. Now, it so happened that at about five miles' distance from Petre, in the district of Wan»anui, n Mr. Gilfillan resided with Inn family, in a lonely farmhouse. On the evening ol the 18th Apt il, Mr. GiMllan, who had been into town, went to his atoekyaid to sec that all was right, und whilst he was so engaged observed a party of sk natives coming down the hill opposite his house. They ■approached, and enteied into conversation with him. The lamily were all indoors, with the exception of Mr. CillfilUn, who Uiv tome time walked up and down in fjont o! his lions*, talking and jthting with the natives. Suddenly he felt <i violent blow on the hack of his ne;k •md knew tint lie wa» ••evcrely wounded. Despite of this, and I lie number of Ins opponents, he conlnvcd to make Rood hih way into the house, and banieudoid <he door. At that moment there were in the hou c 3c 3 besides himself, his wife and three children, who were sub'-iqnenlly muideied, as well an three otheis and an infant who escaped. Into the sickening details of the butchery it would be unnecessary to enter. Let it suffice here to say, that Mi. GilfilLin was perßuaded by hib Rife to make his tsenpe through a window, a* they both believed that it was only hi& life which was aimed at. He did go, and dragged himself, wounded Ub he was, through the garden and the long fe m , and so contrived to reach a station where he might >aise an a'arra. It was, however, too late. The next day, Monday, the 1 9th, a policeman despatched to the hpot found near the house two cluldicn of Mr. Gilfillau'o, who told him all the rest of the family weie killed. Proceeding a little further, ho found the bodies of Mrs. Gilfillan and her tlnce children. They wire quite deud. Close to the spot the policeman heaid the cry of an infant, and on entciint; the btockyard he louud it, perfectly uninjured, lying in the lap of a young woman who had been seriously wounded in the head. No traces of the murderers, were to be found but a bloody axe which was thrown uiion the ground. New Zeuland, however, is not Ireland: Petre is not Itoscommon. It Is not easy in such a couutry to conceal the real actors it a scene of this sort. The friendly natives soon reported that the men who had been engtged in this act of aliocity were publicly boasting of their share in the deed. It wa-s found a task of no great difficulty to procu c their arrest, and they wire Boon safely lifindrd over to the custody of the soldiery. The firmness and docHion of Gupta n Lny<\, of the 58th Kejft,, who was then < ommumling &t Wanganui, seem

to sit on the bodies of the victims, and the jury mninly upon the evidence of Mr. Gilfillan, who identified the prisoners, brought a verdict of " Wilful Murdei 1 ' against them. They were immediately tried by a Court Martial, as martial law had been previously proclaimed throughout tin* distiict, and four of them were sentenced to death. The finding was, without hesitation, confirmed by Cnpt.un L»3'c, and on Monlay. the 2-1 th of April, the inunleicrs were pnblicMy evented. It is impossible to speak too highly of the judgment and determination evinced by Captain L.iyc in the t>itiution in which he was plated* Tins ningle act of vigour will, in all probability, be found to huvc elteclually quieted the barbarous natives, and to have convinced them that the blood of the white men cannot be shed with impunity. It was however, the immediate cause of a demonstration on the part of the tubes connected with the culpiils who had been sentenced to fo ignominious a death, An attack took pi .ire on the station of which Captain Lay was in command, but the hostile Datives were repulsed on every point, and when Captain Grey nnived at the post oi danger, it only depended upon him to hive given the ordor that would have consigned them nil to death at the hands of their own countrymen lie acted, however, with greater humanity nndsoundei judgment. Having defeated them in a ikirmi.sh in which they lost twenty men, he deemed that the lesson inflicted upon them hud already been severe enough, and allowed them to retiie wilh no further molestation into tlu ir woods to reflect at leisure on the nature ol the pnver ih-y had let at temporary defiunce. Captain Grey's despatch gives, if it be pr>9tible, even a more satisfactory account of the rau6es which led him to assent to the liberation of Te Rauparaha. It w.is represented to the Governor that he was bo degraded by his captivity in the cye.s of his countrymen, th.it for the future he could inspire no fui ther dread ; that ifhe were longer detained in custody, the natives would believe that hi had been societly murdered by the British, vvhc woie afraid publicly to acknowledge the deed; and that some of the chiefs Wiio had been most noted for their fidelity to the British, were leady to be guarantec-8 for his good and oidcrly bihaviour. Upon such icpiesentaiions, and at such iivercession. he was lui'idi d ovei to the j guardianship of an old ally, and is living peaceably m a district assigned to him as tlie limit ot his libcity in the noitliGrn part of the island. Such is a brief outline of tlic substance of the despatches recpived by the Castor tiom New Zealand. Si far Irom that Colony being in a dialuibdil condition, or I tlie last engagement with the natives ha\ingbecn one | of doubtful success to the British firms.Jit would appe«r that nothing has been wantin; to ( lie vindication of justice, law, and good order. Un'ess in the opinion of those who pieler extennin,i(ion to every other means of colonization, we see nothing' in the recent occurrences that can form the bubjuct of a moment's regret.