The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 220, 8 July 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

He just ami le.ir not : Let all the ends tlion aims't at, be thy Country's, '1 ii y (inn's, and Tmlli's.

SATURDAY, JULYS, 1848.

Ir may be said to lie without the jno\ inco of a civilian to discuss the details of a, question so purely military as consideration of the. best nuMiis of Colonial defence. The apology (if apology bo requisite) is, thai at a moment of political excitement, when the stability and integrity of the British licet was called in question, and when an ungracious theme had been furnished for paity deti action, the piesent Kdilor of the Nkw Znu.ANnrß was led into earnest and actuc investigation of the actual condition of our licet and aisonals. K\eiy (lock-)anl, and almost eveiy ship, m and out of commission, uas silently and searclnngly inspected. The tiitnnphant results wcic,tlnough the medium of the London Journals, placed beibic the public at the time — and, it may be added, the advocacy in favor of England's blue jackets, was not unproducti\c of benefit to the personnel, which (through a tiain of injurious acts of Sir James Graham's,) had then been rendered deplorably inferior to the materiel of that noble service. The mannei in which the subject was treated foi lnnately elicited the maiked and generous commendation of the gallant Adiuual commanding at Portsmouth, and seuual, not the least -distinguished, of England's meteor (lag. Tncited by the heaity commendation of judges so thoiougbly competent, it wasascaice perceptible giadation to slide from enforcement of the merits of our jackets blue, to the claims of the Colonies to the piotection which, ships, soldiers, and ibitilications impart. At a moment of profound peace, and m the. pages of many an influential Ijiitish journal, the woful nakedness of evciy settlement m those seas uas emphatically exposed, and an effectual lcmedy urgently aihised* To those expositions Sir John Franklin, then Governor of Van Diemen's Land, imparted practical vitality ; and in compliance with his. recommendations, the guns, so sapicnili/ mounted on Piiuce of Wales' Batteiy, weie shipped for (lobait Town in the year 181 1. lleie the defensive eneigies of the Hiilish Miuistiy succumbed — nor gun noi shot found their way elsewhere. The' writer, however stuck to his text, and continued his advocacy until he hoped he had enkindled a congenial flame in the heaits of the Legislative Council of Auslialia — but it pioved to be a meie ignis fatuus, which quickly — " Paled its ineffectual liie"— and that, almost, at the moment .when the steed may be m danger of being stolen — the stable remaining without a door to close. This is the w liter's apology. Since he donned harness he has become case haideiicd, and may, it is possible, mistake aidency of. purpose, for accuracy of aim. Thus much par parcnlhese, and, now, revcnous a nos mouions. To a gieat nation possessing, like Fiance, powerful fleets and armies, and with few and jneonsideiable Colonies to giuud, there exists a peiilous facility of menacing, if not of cairymg, some of the remote and unfortified settlenients^which England, with singular inconsistency, cicates, but with fatuous impolicy, is niggaid to defend. We stated in our last, that a neck and neck race for the acquisition of New Zealand — or, at all events, foi its middle ish — had been run betwixt England and Fiance. If England oulstiipt her competitor, the other loluctantly foiewent the pn/,e, upon which she turned a long and wistful gaze. It is by no means impossible that an indistinct hope of wicsting it, at some future day, may have been indulged. Thus much is certain, that our embrou illcment with the Maon, proved a so'mcc of much and grateful satisfaction, tendin"" to cherish a delusion that, in the event of possible conflict, the Aboiigines wwjr^ be found ranged beneath the drapeau tricolor, rather than under the gloiious banner of St. George. Should war between France and England, unhappily, lesult, we have little doubt that the Southern Pacific will present a frequent battlefield for the hostile squadions. The blench have manifested an absolute passion to command a footing in these seas — the weakness of every province is fully known to them, and a heavy saciitice would, no doubt, be made to accomplish the occupation of one or more. The insicnilicacce of Auckland would prove no security, as some persons fondly imagine,, against assault : quite the reverse — it would tend lather as a provocative to inroad. DeJohmlle, in his celebiated steam pamphlet, urged the advantage to be gained by pouncing " en corsmre" upon the weak and defenceless, eschewing, with the most obseivant caution, all contact with an equal force. The stiatagetic theones of this herd, however, had not even the meat of being original, tor, if we recollect aright, they were piopounded' in the Chamber of Deputies, some yeius since, by General Lamai quo, who counselled that in a future naval war, no fleet of Fiance should be pei nutted to give battle to a fleet of England. That the National attention should be directed less to the construction of ships of the line, than to equipment of capacious, heavily-anncd, fast-sailing frigates. These, in single ship.>, oi in Hying squadrons, Ijamaiquo suggested, should scour the sea>, avoiding being ciinpled in anyfjnno like even-

handed combat, but pouncing upon and ciushing evoijlhiug infeiioi to themselves. By such individuality of purpose; the Geneidl anticipated a small aveiago of eapluio by the enemy, and an incalculable amount of mischief inflicted upon his miuoi cui/eis and men li.inlmcu. Such a system Lamarquc declared would harass and annoy the foe, whilst it would give conlidence to the French Navy, unequal to compete in a ociie,ial action with that of Britain. The less defensible Colonies 1 . loo,woie to be caiefully leconnoitied : they might not indeed be subjugated, hut they might be ou'iutu and laid waste, and an English squadron might be detached fiom a guaidcd point after the mischief had been accomplished, and t lie authmsof it had iscped. Such, or nearly such, was the counsel ol Lamarque, who died m June, 1532, and such, with a (qw of his own characteristic emendation^;, weiethe amiable loumimendations of the lMnce-de JoinvHle, some do/en yeais. thereafter. Is it impossible" that Nc^v Zealand should be made the subject of an experimental dash — and,, if the dash were made, is she in vu Ineiable, ot iiupiacliVablejlo iicotip dcpiain? To Trust rate sucji an attempt should, at any expehse be the most auxious aim of Great Britain ; not simply as aSneie act of justice to New Zealand itself, b,ut equally as' api udent and po'li - tie safoguaid to all llu; iieighboiing possessions, for, woie these island 1 ;, l>y any dis.i.dous liiischante, to p.iss under e\en tempoiaiy suhjo( (ion to Fiance, tliey would furnish her with the much-uncled ports of outfit and iepau,whoie French ciuisers and priv.ilocis would swaim — prowling the Pacific with quite as much, 01 more injuiy to the South Sea trade as that which, dining the last war, rendered the Isle ol France tJie -scoUrgfaud the terror of the Eastern seas, That uneasy apprehensions are life in England has long been ajipaient : the lemoval of five thousand troops from India is sufficient to show that now the alarm is of moment, and should it be fuither aggravated, we may u\sl. assuied that away to India or to Hurope, go the battalions on service here. We cannot, howevei, be bi ought to suppose, that we shall be leH, wholly foi protection to the arms of a puiely Colonial foice. But to what foice, or fiom whence, oui safety in such a case would be confided, we, at piescnt, ate completely unable to foresee. We have long been of opinion, and eveiy additional yeai's experience confirms the coi~ rectness of our views, that the most legitimate and most available defenders of the colonies would be that illustrious corps, Arms pair ct sans tache — those Ocean Bayards — the (loyal Marines. I<W European, Indian, or an American war, eveiy regiment of the line .should be as accessible as possible., , To withdraw them in a moment of emergency from a.remote possession ,i'> not only fraught with, serious expense, but, it must of necessity endanger tlyi dependency whence, without adequate, relief, they ha\e been hastily withdi aw n.' Now ajl this danger and difficulty might be easily ai}d effectually obviated, without hazard to the colonies ; at a considerable saving to the public puise, and at a great and manifest advantage to the naval service. Without reference to regiments on duty in Canada, the West Indies, or the Mediletranean, theie weie recently eighteen battalions employed at the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Ceylon, New South Wales, New Zealand, and Van Diemen's Land. If we average each battalion at 800 men, we have thus 14/100 bayonets — a very pietty little corps d'armee—far removed from the main body of the British line, and beyond the reach of concentration in the hour of exigency: The 1 t'ranspoif, of even a moiety of such a 1 body from Asia to Europe involves no lulling expense, and theii removal to such a distance may be 100 late to effect the end the ministry haVe in view. The Royal Marine forces comprise ninety-four companies, with tlnce additional companies of Marine Artillery. These are distributed in four divisions, with their head quailers at Chatham, Poitsmouth, Plymouth, and Woolwich, and from these stations the several ships of war leceive their complements as required. Now we would raise a fifth, a si.vth, and, if need wimp, a seventh division of this invaluable force, with their head quarters at the Capo, Sydney, and Auckland. By such means a positive and a practical relief would bo given to the over-tasked battalions ot the British line ; the army at home would fie materially stiengthend, and the effective ganisoning of these remote colonies be permanently ensured. At each distant post the integrity ol its division would be preserved ill piecisely the same degiee as that obseived at Chatham or Woolwich. The economy once established, the cost of moving men in large bodies would be rendered comparatively nnnecessaiy, because each man-of-war touching at any of the posts mentioned could be charged with supei - numerary drafts from England, whilst ships, whose torn of foicign sci vice had expired, Avould be insliuctcd to re-embark such men as weie. entitled to theii home relief. ' But this is Hot the only benefit to be obtained: — ships from sickly stations could exchange their enfeebled for effective men — 01, if weakened in sanguinaiy contest, make good then complements liom thecoloni.il division so ojipoi timely at hand — a mallei ol tlielabtunporUuiceiincmotoseasinatiiiieofwai,

whole cuiispis, fiom sickness and death, n* s^' as liom the absence of men m pir/os, lu\e been iiiMjuently so weak handed as 10 endanger the lionur of the flag they woio, As occ lining to Ihe eastward of the Cape we may instance the action of the S\n Imorkn/o, which, from all those causes, fought the Pikmoni'msf -with a crew of 186, ofliceis, men, and boys. A diaft of those gallant follows Who pull and who haul, And wlio li^ht till they full— The maritime soldiers, ihe ftoyal Marines, would, at .such a juncture, have pioved especially acceptable. TJiefonnation of one or more colonial di\ismns of maiines would be of incalculable advantage to Kngland ; the force is more especially adapted to colonial exigencies than any legimenl, no matter how much distinguished. Half soldiei half sailor, the men blend the discipline of the one wilh the \eisaiiliiy of! the other. They aie, moico\ei,tiained to the Efioal gun exeicise, and e\en in the absence of their appropriate adjunct — marine aitillery — <ii e competent to take post in the ledoubl oi Sim boat, their meritorious services being equally available -' IV i Maie, per Tcircim, ' nhieh icsound their fame. IJi sides, when entitled to dischaige, they could be moie easily permitted to become colonists, as the internal economy of thai erratic corps would be less liable to disorganization by such permission than that of a battalion of the line. The Marines have ever, and most deseivedly, been esteemed a popular foice, and, we have no doubt, (hat colonial divisions would be no less so I ban those at home. We shall conclude our picsent observations on that indomitable coips with the wouls of {Midland's CJukat Admiral, Lord St. Vin<rNr, who, in ISIS, thus cxpiessed hnn.,elf.— ''It is of gioat importance to our countiy that the public .should be kept alive upon the subject of oui monstrous aimy, in a scncs of letters to the Timks newspaper, showing that the Maunc coips is best adapted to the security of our dockyaids ; and that no soldiei, of what is teuned the line, should appioach them ; our colonies ought to have no oiher infantry to piotectthem, and the coi])sof JVlaime Artilleiy should be substituted foi the old Aiijllery. I never knew an appeal to them for honour, courage, or loyalty, that they did not 11101 c than leall.se my highest expectations. If ever the hour of leal danger should come to Kngland, they will be iound the counti) \s sheet anchor." As auxiliaiy to such a noble coips, and as a sine and ceitain means of conciliating the nati\e race, we would .suggest the piopuety of a piompteniolment of the native legiment au1 housed by Council. Kngland has eveiy ieason to eulogise the Sepoy aimy tiained under her banner. They are biau 1 , faithful, and ti actable. The Maori, we aie confident, will be found no less so. They aie neither less docile, less ductile, nor less intelligent. Of their untaught conduct and coinage it would be supei/luous heio to speak — and, with ic(eience to then leady compliance with the lilies which discipline pioscnbcs, we ha\e meiely to point lo the tiaining of those enrolled in 0111 aimed police. Warriors by inclination, they die speediy rendeied soldieis in practice, and, sine aie A\e, that in none of England's possessions can theie be found a native race, which would wield her arms wilh greater heroism or jiojalty than the faithful Maori. It isA\ell, in llie infancy of the colony, that we ha\e such allies, and foitunate that we possess such a viler who knows how to turn their qualities to the best account. We ha\e, so far, t then, within oui selves, the elements of a gallant pasanncl, and we trust, that England will aw alee to a sense of the crying necessity of promptly furnishing the means and munitions lo const met the batteries we lack not heails to buluaik.

Cattle Saj.k. — The slock per Fanny was Li ought to the hammer, by Mr. Ilyam Joseph on Wednesday, at the yard of the Blue i3ell .—. — Nineteen heifeis and two and twenty cows sold, on an a\ciage, foi £o 3s. each. Tw o maies imported in the same Acsael lealised £40. Mr. Joseph will ofler at his Mail, Queen Stieet, on Wednesday next, a lot of hoises and mares impoited by the Maid of Erin.