Original Correspondence.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 227, 2 August 1848, Page 3

Original Correspondence.

To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — I have to return you my thanks for you 1 " pdittness in interting my letter in lust Saturday's parer, and to inform you, that were it not for some Blight difference of sentiment with respect to your opinion, as expressed in youi appended remarks, with regard to Captain Fitzßoy,T should not have troubled you again with a letter. I am tru'y sorry to obseive that there is a tenlency in Auckland to mnke the attacks which are directed Bgainit the pres nt Governor more effective by frequent insidious encomiums or masked praises upon the late one. Th.s whs one of the causes of my alluding in my last letter to the effects of his ruinous policy, and perhaps, considering the undignified termination of Captain Fitz ßoy's colonial caieer, and the exposure which his acts revived in the English papen and in Parliament, it would be unnrcessa-y, and even •' unmanly," to drap his deplorable f.iulu again before the public, or to induce a recurrence of that painful ferlinffi which ever accompanies the remembrance of the rcU of one whom we pitied ia her than were ofr fended by. Had Tap 1 . Fifzßoy ceased to interfere in New Zealand affairs on being succeeded in the government, we would quietly have witnessed his downfal, and have considered all hostility as ceaMng agninst the man, although yet active against his measures. Bur the termination of his power was not consideicd a fit ti ne for ni'raining the further exhibition of his diulike, or for leaving a clear field for his successor. We find thtt immediately after his return to England lie publishes a pamphlet, in which he sumi up the whole measure of the dislike which he had all along manifested against the. tett'eis «f Cook's Straits and wlmh production, contrary t\ n to our own expectation, is as total'y una gumentative as it is rmrouious. He did not, after having produced the book — whirh, with gteat exeicise of charity we mi»ht \>'\v. .him the credit of hiving; de»igned for explanation of unsuc( essful policy, but which personal feeling caused him 'lo mke virulent. He did not then Jbecome silent We might pas 3 over even his printed abuse is a thing unwrthy our rint'inbrauce. Did we not know, on the be*t authority, that he yet perseveres in attempts to thwat us — that he still, possessing as he docs the acqu"intance of some of the under clerks tit Downing Street, tries to influence th se in power with hii misjudged views of col mial policy, and sreks, to the small ex ent of the ability which in him liea, to mar the inienl'ons and inoppde the measurti of his fucccs por. He has also obtained the ear of Lord Stanley, who, as leader of the opposition in colonhl matters, Will listen to what even Cnpi Fifz 1 oy nwy insinuitp. The simile of the "fallen lion" is a f.ivouiite one lierp, and in every one's nuu'b, but allied genera,ly to C.iptam Fitzßoy. It may be a want of disci iminative judgment which ciuies me to f*U to recognise its applicability, for were I fond of similes, w ic'' I am not, I would rather have selected an animal of the thick skinned PachyiLrmata for an illustration, from which, as the proverbial laying tells us, no conversational or argumentative powers are expected. The Southern Fettlers do not, without cause, deem that Captain Fitzßoy was bitteily and implacably hostHe to them. They know fiom all his actions, at wtll as from hit own acknowledgment, th it he had decided upon the course he would pursue towards them, even while yet in Sydney— a coutse of systematic and unrel nt'tig animobity. And ere he ha I beeu «n hrur in the settlement he evinced his intention. The fi st whom lie met— the justices of the district, who carried up the congratulatory addreis — men without exception postessing the respect of their fe.low colonists, and of equal respectability of birth as his own— he upbraided in coarse and insulting terms ; told them, ere they had spoken to him, and while they were 'yet prepared to lend him their support and aid, that he " had come to govern, and not to be governed! You will fiod you have CBiight a Tar—" Tartar, he would have paid, but he corrected himself when too la'e, and read ia the faces of those whom he was addressing, the expression of their disgnst and contempt. He told the deputation from the outlying lettleri — men who had mixed in politics, and who represented those who had paid 30s. per acre for their land, that they were squatters and trespassers. And when asked how far they were justified in resorting to the use of firearms when the natives were endeavouring to fire the thatch of their houses (as had been the casej, he replied that the death of a native resulting would be accounted a murder, the party concerned would be accordingly arraigned, and if found guilty, hanged. On being told that it would shortly be pioved that the land had been fairly purchased from the prese agressors,* he replied, and it will be long ere that answer is forgotten, that if such were the case, " their memory would be cleared ot all obloquy which might have attached to it." H« aspesed, in like manner, the memory of those murdered at the Wairau, whose nainea it were a desecration to utter in the same breath with his ! He prejudged, ere he reached iS'ew ZiaUnd, the guilt or innocence of those concerned, and he deliberately, and in defiance of all evidence, officially asierted that the natives wers occupants of the Valley of the Wairau. The money winch he was authorised to draw for to meet the anticipated distress consequent upon the Btoppage of the company's operations at Wellington and Nelson, he obtained* but never expended in those

* " The District of Tasman's Gulpli his been paid for at the race of a larger sum per acre tlnn any other lai>d in New Zealand."— Vide Commissioner 1 Spain's f on Claim,

settlements And he asserted, in his despatch to the Colonial Minister, that one h.ilf of the settlers — those whose ruin he had compassed— had made false retunn to the property tax schedule. These, Sir, are facts— broad fa<-ts, and indisputable. They are not to be accounted mere errors of judgment; they evince the narrow minded prejudices of the man who, had he possessed a sense of conmon propriety in such matteri, would ere this have ceased his mischievous officiousness. Is his memory " gloriously vindicated ?" Are such acts redeemed by his asserted sacrifice of inlereit^in accepting the office of governor; or by the evidence of his mere "erroneous intention." The Hindoos built temples to Wanen Hastings as they would to the deities of plague and imall pox, and yet there nre not one twentieth of the redeeming points in Captain Fitz ßoy's character or actions that there wer« in Wairen Hastings'. With respect to the rpmarks which you have made upon myself— personal as they are intended to be — they may pass. I bave been too long; connected with newspapers to be concerned at a little abuse, or ever to think of reluming it Would you have the kindness to inform me whether it is true that Mr. Pot, of the " Entansvoill" press has edited a paper in Auckland ; and also if " Leo liedivivus" is at ull related to Mrs. Leo lluuter, of the Den. 1 imagine that to-mo row's Warder, ill its love for sirnilits, will ask " Andddiest thou, then, To beard the lion in his Dem * * * # And hopest that thou unscathed mny go?" &c. Begging to assure jou, that 'ere I dUturbed the hornet's nest, I was prepared, and still am, for the consequences which might ensue. I remain, With every apturance of high respect, &c, The Writer 01? last Week's Letier. [Our Correspondent is a gentleman of " prave 'ords'* and amiable personalities. He has asked ug one question, which, with the true spirit of a Friend, we will answer by putting ano'hi'r. Do we recognise in " The Writer ot Last Week'i Lettei" an oflicial " late of the NtiW Zenlaud Company's service ?"]