The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 208, 27 May 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

SATURDAY, MAY 27, 18 48.

By the Hyderabad which arrived yesteiday morning we have Sydney papers to the 16th inst. There had been no direct arrivals from England since our last •, however, by the brig Scout, at Hobart Town from Sincapore, we have obtained intelligence to the 24th of January, — the most interesting portions of which we have extracted into another page. The question of National defences is agitating the Country, and not without cause, for France has a long arrear of hoarded hate, to let loose when time and chance shall serve. In lookingto herowndefences, England would do wisely not to overlook her defenceless colonies. We

ill the Pacific arc pervious and powerless, and three yeais since the squadron of France could have swept that of Britain from out these seas. Sydney, as well as Auckland, it is decided shall be a naval station. This is as it should be. We shall have a word or two shoitly in reference to dock-yards and defences.

We have been, to a certain extent, anticipated in the observations we deem it incumbent to offer upon an article which appealed in a contemporary issue of Saturday last. We allude to that portion of its Bay of Islands intelligence, in which the writer rashly advocates the abrogation of the act prohibiting the sale of aims and ammunition to the natives. We confess we were utterly astounded at the temerity of such counsel, emanating especially from such a source, one which is ever foreboding war and disaster to constituted authority, which depicts the native mind as ill at ease, as projecting confederacies, and framing bills of right, carefully concealed from general inspection, and considered to be of doubtful meaning — and yet, with these alleged signs of the times, proclaimed by himself at the Cioss, our contemporary is fool -hardy enough to suppose that the safest way lo avoid Avar is to arm and equip those who (according to his own showing) are in hot haste to become once more belligerents ! We desire not to impute sinister motives to our contemporary, but we would dispassionately inquire what he himself would think of a British journalist, who in the very teeth of the Irish Arms Act, — an act whose wisdom and humanity must insure the concurrent approbation of all good men — we would ask him, we say, by what appellation he would designate the journal wicked enough to suggest its repeal ? Are the disaffected natives — if such there be, — less sanguinary than the incendiary Irish ? I Are their passions less excitable — their impulses more controulable, — their minds more subdued ? We fear it greatly. The one, in i the excess of unbridled fury, ily to arms in the redress of imaginary wrongs, or to gratify I insane revenge. The other covet them in indulgence of a passionate love of warfare almost coincident with their birth, and thus, although with widely different motives animating the Irish and the Maori heart, the cases are still las nearly parallel as possible. Surely, therefore, every careful writer is bound to weigh well his Avords, and to ponder deeply ere he hazards a counsel so fraught with peril to the community, if not with treason to the state. What \ Cancel the prohibition of the sale of gunpowder'? Is there one settler in a thousand Avho would ad\ise it? Are the peaceably disj posed natives desirous of its extinction'? We firmly believe they are not ; Aye Avell remember many proofs of a contrary tendency in the pages of | this Journal ; and we have taken the utmost pains to ascertain from parties thoroughly conversant with the native character, that any relaxation of a measure so beneficial to the prosperity of both races, Avould be viewed by them with sincere regret. Our contemporary would do well to refer to the indignant eloquence of Mr. Brown in deprecation of the Native Force Bill, on the 29th of July last. That hon. gentleman adduced many and cogent arguments against the entrusting the natives Avith weapons, which as he conclusively observed, " Avould have a tendency to demoralize them, and to direct their attention from useful industrial pursuits to the use of arms and the associations of war, directing their minds to military employments, and to ideas of the pomp and glory of war, instead of to the more useful and more peaceable engagements of agriculture and social improvement." Such avere the opinions of one of our leading senators, a gentleman of much experience of the native disposition, — opinions in which we entirely coincide, and Avhich Aye feel assured our contemporary must respect. The mere allegation contained in the article under review, namely that " the natives are in a most excited state because of Tamati Waka and his people having gone to Okaihau to prepare the ground for wheat in anticipation of the township being formed and the road from the Bay to Hokianga commenced, and that fears are entertained that Heke will carry his threats of opposition into active Avarfare." — Such allegations if true, (we are entirely ignorant in the matter, and our correspondents on the spot are unaccountably silent) are only " confirmations strong " in favour of Mr. BroAvn's prescience, — demonstrating in the most unequivocal manner the cruel mischief of permitting arms and ammunition to pass into unscrupulous hands. Our contemporary inquires ''why shonld the Government refuse to alloAV them (the natives) to obtain powder and guns to put them on an equal footing with the Europeans?" And are they not so ? Does not the same Ordinance which forbids the sale of arms to the natives likeAvise preclude their purchase by the Europeans'? We read the Act thus. But even admitting there Avere a leaning in favour of the European, the cases are by no means analogous. The Europeans have migrated hither Avith purely pacific vieAvs, their mind intent to " increase their store" by commerce agriculture, or other industrial pursuits. Arms are their resort in extremity, and only then do they assume them in bodies, Not so the war-

loving Maori who arm in tribes, and who, as we have learnt by dire experience, are but toe pi one to employ their weapons to the destruction alike of their own and the European race. If " it is not by disarming the natives that we can acquire their confidence," it is most assuredly not less ceitain that it is not by arming them we can command their forbearance ; and we have little doubt that with all his repugnance to the " more deadly tomahawk" our contemporary would be much better pleased to encounter even the redoubted Heke himself so weaponed, than with a Parker rifle or a Tower musket — the power of extermination in the one much outruns, in our estimation, the destructiveness of the other, and with fusils against hatchets we apprehend the slaughter would prove nearly a one-sided one. We have written not in a spirit of hostility, nor in a desiie after controversy. Our arguments may be unsound. We deem our contemporary's so. We have but one object in view, — the peace and prosperity of the land we live in.

Another anniversary of Queenly nativity has passed down the stream of time. The rejoicings of forty-eight are now amongst the recoids of the past. Never, perhaps, did lovelier dawn prove usher to day more beautiful than that which gladdened the nine and twentieth return of that auspicious gala. The fountains of our weeping skies, which for weeks had streamed in ceaseless flood, were suddenly dried up. The heavens were swept of fierce and lowering clouds, and the brilliant firmament shone forth in all its dazzling gorgeousness of blue and gold. The wintry winds were hushed. No rude blast disturbed the calm of earth or ocean. The air breathed bland and balmy. And universal nature, as if in sympathy of the joyous occasion, put on her fairest and most attractive garb. Towards noon, the mustering in Fort Britomart grew strong, for drums were beating, trumpets pealing, and banners flaunting. The artillery were at their guns, and the infantry lining the eastern face of that embryo for i talice. There was of course the regulated expenditure of customary saltpetre. The Calliope thundered away with an ardour every way worthy the muse of heroic poesy. The artillery boomed in well measured rounds. The musketeers rattled from left to right, {and right to left with faultless precision. Lieut. Colonel Wynyard hipped, and the gallant Rutlanders hurrahed, whilst the crowd looked on in admiring' wonder. Then followed an inspection by Major General Pitt ; — the 58th 's fine regimental band, with their new and beautiful instruments, discoursing the while certain portions of most eloquent music. That ceremony past, the soldiery formed four deep, evacuated the fort, and returned to their quarters in the Albert barracks, and thus terminated the military spectacle. Eheu ! What a long and melancholy train of chastened reflections this "ghost of pleasure" conjured to our pensive soul. The present became forgotten in the past, and we retraced in imagination the raptures of our boyhood, and the glories of the fourth of June, when George the Third was king. Oh the anticipatory longings for that time honoured day ! Weeks, — months, — antecedent to its glorious anniversary, what hoardings of pocket money, what importunities from friends and kindred, for subsidies to swell those coveted munitions — powder and pyrotechnics! Its eve was a sleepless one, for who could slumber with souls intent upon "The^m^oflhatday." Proved it wet 1 ? Nor tongue nor pen could paint the agony of disappointment that wrung a thousand thousand bursting bosoms. If, on the contrary, the summer sun shed forth his gladsome beams, — long ere his earliest ray had painted tree or tower, the ear was stunned by the ceaseless roar of countless miniature batteries. On that blissful day, — in "Auld Reekie " at least, — the several public structures were emblazoned, by amateur artists, with transparencies of every conceivable device, wreathed in triumphal garlands, and decorated with magnificent chaplets of choice flowers and shrubs, amongst which the pensile clusters of the gay and golden laburnum shone conspicuous. Every statue was lavishly ornamented, and on every vantage ground, in floral character, or in golden letter, the eye encountered a "God save the King," who to prevent misconception was signified to be "G. 11l R." Bonfires were innumerable, i and innumerable the delighted urchins who surrounded them, discharging their aitillery, of every miniature calibre, with an energy worthy of the days when the scarce buried Nelson lived triumphant in every heart, and when Wellington was but in the early mom of his matchless career. As day advanced, came the mustering of troops of all arms, and from every post within a reasonable distance of the modern Athens. Scarce a street but echoed the tramp of infantry, the clatter of cavalry, or the rumble of artillery, all converging to one point, Leith Walk, which on either side, was trimmed with scarlet, — a goodly mile or more. Then boomed the thunder of the castle guns, which had no sooner ceased than the air was rent by the roar of the sharp fusilade intermixed with

that of the Hanking guns of the respective bugades ; these, being in clue time, lesponded to by Leith Fort, and the ships of war in that roadstead. Then came the clang of martial music from some score of regimental bands, the well trained militia and volunteers defiling in proud array bei'oie the gallant Moira and a brilliant staff. Night, however, was the elysium of the school boys' dreams. Every square vomited lire — rockets scaled the empyrean, squibs fizzed, crackers bounced, seipents wriggled, Jack sprang fiom his box, wheels revolved, and Roman candles shot forth their evanescent stars. Juvenile delirium was at the full, and even the seniors looked on, giatih'ed spectators of exhibitions frequently expensive and of much artistic excellence. On that night, the city was alive, — but— lchabod ! the glory has departed ! All is transitory here below, and even before the down began to fledge our chin, these jocund days had fled — the illness of the venerable Monarch rendering festivity inappiopiiate, and thereby blotting from the school boys' calendar a festival never again of equal reverence ; for when George the Fourth succeeded, the race of Kings-birth-day boys was extinct, and they that came after knew not the mystery, whilst they who had preceded them " Could not but remember such things were, And were most pleasant," until, like Octavian, in the plenitude of their regrets, they breathed a chastened sigh exclaiming " Those times are past Floranthe." And so they are, and we— we fear, must apologise for recurring to them. We have but a schoolboy's excuse to offer,— a schoolboy's yearnings mastered us, and we could not help it. To return to our own festivities. We had housed the soldiery, and as there was a gap between that event and the Maori feast, we have filled the hiatus we trust not unendurably. At two o'clock, the government lawn became the scene of attraction, many a curious step being directed towards the long extended marquee pitched near its south eastern angle, and within whose ample area two long arrays of tables, with benches on either side, leaving a spacious central gangway, were disposed. The tables were nicely covered, and profuse supplies of excellent cold roast beef, plum pudding, bread, and home brewed ale, were spread. At the hour above named, the natives approached in two divisions, each leader bearing a bannei, and every individual furnished with a card oi invitation, which was presented to the cheque taker, with the air and grace of the dancing master. Many were well dressed in good European clothing, and all were clean and orderly, and took their places with a modesty and piopnety not always observable on similar occasions by the chawbacons of the mother country. The Governor and Mrs. Grey were, on their arrival, greeted with three loud and heaity cheers, and immediately knives and forks commenced an earnest and a vigorous clatter. It •would rather have astounded some of the dogmatical gentry of St. Stephen's, who ignorantly took Mr. Roundel Palmer to task for the peifectly correct portraiture he gave of the moderation — nay, magnanimity — displayed in the late war, to have seen these alleged cannibals using their knives and forks with ease and good will. We feel well assured that many of the fair visiters who contemplated the satisfactory exhibition of Wednesday, would, a year or two back, ere quilting the British shore, have regarded with incredulous scorn the person bold enough to proclaim the degree at which native civilisation has arrived — indeed, we scarcely expect, in the drawing-rooms of London, that our present narrative will pass for aught else than an ingenious romance, or interested figment. It is, however, more than satisfactory to us to know that it is fact, and that we are located amongst a native race susceptible of every improvement, and prompt to profit by every instruction. Their demeanour at this feast was admirable, and we are happy to learn that it afforded to themselves the greatest satisfaction. The arrangements were excellent — all went smoothly — and we congratulate alike the donor, the purveyor, and the comptrollers of the banquet for the happy success of their praiseworthy endeavouis to promote brotherly love, and cherish peace and good will. j In the evening His Excellency and his Lady entertained a select and numerous party (upwards of two hundred) at a ball and supper. What can we say descriptive of such familiar gaieties, save that the floor was crowded with nimble feet responding to the dictates of joyous hearts. " Fair women and brave men" smiled approvingly on each other, and when the call to supper resounded, as veracious chroniclers we must needs declare, that the appetite of the evening was fully as keen and quite as destructive of good cheer as that of the mid-day. Dancing was kept up to an early hour, and those so willing to meet showed the greatest leluctance to part, even after the "wee short hour" had augmented considerably its brief proportions. However, even pleasure has its penalty, and with jaded limbs, our Auckland beaux and belles were forced to tear themselves away, "to sleep — perchance ,to dream"— of future polkas, and after love -passages,