New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, February 8, 1845.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 18, 8 February 1845, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, February 8, 1845.

Bt the Government brig which arrived here on Monday the 3rd inst., we have received news from Auckland up to the 21st January, The intelligence is just what we all expected. His Excellency's policy is fast working its own cure, and he himself seems now to regret that he has so long despised the warnings of those whom he denounced as oppressors of the natives. After .having proclaimed that the British Government would rather abandon New Zealand than employ force to restrain the aggressions of the natives, he seems now to be preparing to undertake a campaign against the whole race. We have unfortunately this week only room for a brief detail of the facts as we can glean them from a few straggling papers which have coaae to hand. Weimdfrom apioclamation issued by his Excellency on the 9th January, " that an act of depredation has lately been committed at the Bay of Islands by the Kawa kawa .tribe," and " that a flagrant robbery accompanied by personal violence has been commenced at Matekana by -the Wangarie tribe," that his Excellency has at length made the important discovery " that if such acts of lawlessness are not sufficently checked, there will be no security for settlers at a distance from military protection," and therefore his Excellency pro- - claims " that until compensation is made for these outrages, -until the chiefs Parehoro, Mate, and Kokore, are delivered up to justice, " he will not waive the Crown's right of pre-emption to the lands belonging to their tribes ; and also that he will upon the delivery of the aforesaid chiefs, or either of them, unto the Police' Magistrate at Auckland, cause the sum of Jifty pounds for each chief, 0r .£150 for all three chiefs, to-be im--mediately paid on Jris or their apprehenson and delivery ;" and further " that the strongest measures will be adopted ultimately. in the event of these methods being found •insufficient." But this is not .all, — Friend Honi Held, -has relapsed into the evil ways ■ of '"his forefathers. On the 9th of January, accompanied by his mob, be cut down the flag-staff at the Bay of Islands and burnt it. The Governor immediately dispatched Ensign Campbell snd 30 men to the scene of action ; the flag-staff was again erected, and during the day vigilantly guarded by the troops ; at night a party of friendly natives were appointed to watch it. Hoai Heki having given .due notice of his intention, came early in the morning accompanied by only two natives and with his own hands cut it down for the third time. He then gave Mr. Beckham, the Police Magistrate and his Constables, notice to quit the Bay of Islands witnin two months on pain of his severest displeasure. Honi also informed his friend the Governor that he proposed shortly paying him a visit and cutting down the flagstaff at Auckland. To this friendly intimation his Excellency responded by issuing a proclamation offering a reward of £100 for his friend's apprehension. Johnny retaliated by issuing a counter proclamation offering a reward of 1,000 acres for the Governor's head, and thus they are amusing themselves. The upshot of the affair seems to be. that the two friends are going to war. Johnny seems to take the matter very coolly, Bat his Excellency seems to be in a state of trepidation, for he has, we understand, written | a very lachrymose despatch $o Sir George Gipps, begging him to send at least 200 troops ; he declares that this time he is acting deliberately and coolly, and after reminding Sir George Gipps, that his (Capt. Fitzroy's) opinion is entitled to great weight, for that he has not only been a year in the country, but that all his cogitations for ten years previously have been bestowed upon New Zealand affairs, and ends by stating h.s his last conviction that nothing but sanguinary measures will do. Such is the state to which Captain Fitzroy has reduced this colony] • * I

It is evident that' Captain Fitzroy, and all who act with him,, belong to the sect of the HcHapoej>ath;Bts ; at leajpt they have adopted

the doctrine that " whatever will cause a disease, will also cure it ; " in other words, they £rst invite the aggressions of the natives, by yielding to all their caprices, — by pandering to all their passions, and then attempt to restrain their outrages, by still greater servility, and by more openly proclaiming their abject fear of them. We have already witnessed Captain Fitzroy's Homooepathic experiments at Waikanai, at the Bay of Islands, at Taranaki, and at every other place that he has yet cursed by his presence ; and we have also seen, how invariably it has happened, that he had scarcely finished his performances at one place, before he has been called upon to exhibit them at another. Our duty now compels us to revert to the scenes recently enacted at Wanganui, and we do so with feelings of unusual pain and reluctance, for those, who took partin these proceedings can* I not avail themselves of the excuse which has been often urged on the Governor's behalf ; they cannot plead that they are not responsible for their actions. The Taupo natives having heard of, and reflected upon his Excellency's proceedings at Waikanai and the Bay of Islands, seem to have been seized with an earnest desire to learn more of the Homooepathi c system. Acccordingly, a predatory gang of the tribe made a descent upon the settlement of Wanganui the beginning of last month ; and there amused themselves for three weeks by pillaging the settlers, and by committing acts of the grossest obscenity towards their wives and daughters. While they were thus engaged, the Bishop of New Zealand, Mr. Turton, and Mr. Skeffington, Wesleyan Missionaries, arrived at the settlement ; and last, th.ugh not least, his Honor the Superintendent made his appearance in H.M.S. Hazard, having come expressly for the purpose, it was supposed, of represing these excesses, and punishing the perpetrators of them. Their arrival was hailed by the settlers with feelings of the liveliest satisfaction, for they believed, in the simplicity of their hearts, that some redress would be obtained for the outrages to which they had so patiently submitted, ands ome guarantee afforded against a repetition of similar scenes. Unfortunately all the parties, whose coming was deemed so op - portune, seem to have been as deeply imbued with the Homooepathic doctrine as Captaic Fitzroy himself ; and we regret to be obliged to state, that the Bishop was the first to apply it ; — for his Lordship, finding his exhortations treated with derision^ and his admonitions laughed at, made the natives — mark — the very natives, who had been guilty of acts, which decency has prevented our describing, a present of blankets. But let us not be unjust. •It is alledged, and we are ready to believe it, that these blankets were given, not as a recompense for the crimes committed at Wanganui, but as payment for services rendered by the tribe to his Lordship some time ago. Be this as it may — the pernicious effect of this illtimed gift cannot be denied — for the son of E Pakerou, a chief, immediately professed himself a convert ; to what ? to the doctrines of Christianity ? No — but to those of Homooepathy ; or to use his own words " he had never yet been guilty of robbing the white man>" but now he saw the error of his ways, " and would by and bye become a thief, and thereby entitle himself to a present of blankets." Truly, if his Lordship's object had been to excite to acts of violence against his countrymen, those natives who had hitherto remained friendly, he could scarcely have devised means more effective for accomplishing it, than that of making a present to these Taupo natives, at the very time that they were engaged in acts of plunder and outrage.- "Go thou and do likewise" was undoubtedly the most natural, if not the only inference which the natives couW be expected to draw from such an act. Believing (as we do) bis Lordship to have been actuated by the best intentions- and purest motives, we cannot but deplore this illadvised proceeding, not merely on account of the effect it produced on the natives, but because we fcnow that it has tended to to strengthen and confirm the impression on the minds of the settlers in Cook's Straits,

that his Lordship entertains no kindly feelings towards them, but that he is the chief supporter of that policy, which they regard as the sole cause of the anarchy and distress at present prevailing throughout the colony, and as the source pregnant with future disasters both to themselves and the natives. About the same time as this occurrence took place, his lordship by some inadvertent expression, grievously offended one of the chiefs of the Tawa, whereupon the whole gang commenced to insult and abuse his lordship in the grossest manner, and even, we understand, to threaten him with personal violence, unless utu was given to them. Luckily Messrs. Turton and Skeffington, (all Homocepathists) came to the rescue ; and by administering a doze of the universal elixir, — to wit a blanket — succeeded in pacifying the ire of the barbarian chief, and quelling the tumult. We would gladly have ceased our narrative. But what did his Honor the Superintendent do ? Did he demand restitution of the stolen property ? Did he insist upon the parties, guilty of these outrages, being delivered up to justice ? We can only reply that if he made such demands, he has been most grossly belied; for we have heard from several of the most respectable settlers, that his Honor did nothing more than beseech and implore the natives to leave Wanganui and return whence they came. His prayers were however unavailing, until he consented to the conditions insisted upon by the natives, that he would accompany them to Waitotara. Yea, — His Honor the Supintendent placed himself at the head of this band of robbers, and accompained them on an expedition the sole object of which was to bully and insult, (if not to pillage, murder and eat,) the Christian natives of Waitotara. Verily, if misery makes men acquainted with strange bedfellows, Captain Fitzroy's policy makes those who consent to carry it out, familiar with strange and painful degradation. But it is stated, that his Honor did actually at one stage of the proceedings, threaten to land the men from the Hazard and drive the natives from the settlement •, and we believe this to be the fact, bi.t what would his Honor wish us to infer from it ; was it not either an empty and childish threat, or if not, must it not be taken as a proof that having by his own confession a sufficient force at his command to punish these marauders; he yet dared to neglect his duty ?

From the papers and # letters which we received by the Hizard, from Nelson, we learn that Mr. Sinclair, the Representative of the Government, had called a public meeting of the settlers there, for the purpose of electing 1 a member to represent them in the Legislative Council, and that Mr. Domett, whose talents are acknowledged by all, and who has ever been one of the most able opponents of the policy pursued by the Local Government, was unanimously elected. Mr. Domett, however, immediately declined the appointment, stating his reasons in a letter, which we trust we shall be able to present to our readers next week. The settlers again met, and resolved not to send a Representative. We would now respectfully ask his honor the Superintendent, why the same privilege of electing a Representative is not afforded to us ? Mr. Clifford, who was chosen by the Governor to represent this settlement, has, we understand, sent in his resignation ; but we believe that he would be induced to reconsider the subject, and resume his seat in the Council, were he elected by the settlers. We trust therefore, that his Honor will either call a public meeting of the settlers, or will explain why this privilege conceded to our fellow settlers at Nelson, is withheld from us.

Few of our readers will peruse the article which we have extracted from the Morning Chronicle of August 7th, without feeling convinced that the writer knows more of Captain Fitzroy than he thinks fit to disclose. When, however, he has become acquainted with a few more of our Governor's eccentricities, he will probably speak out more plainly. And then, should those rumours, which have for some time

been current here, prove well founded, how will Lord Stanley justify the appointment ? Will his Lordship plead ignorance ?

We congratulate the members of the Horticultural Society on the important and valuable present of seeds which has just been received from Edward Wakefield, Esq., and which were collected in the Jardiu de Plantes at Paris. The seeds will be ready for distribution in the course of the ensuing week to subscribers who have paid up their subscriptions, and who are requested to apply to the Secretary Dr. Feathersione. Want of room compels us to postpone to our next number the account of the annual meeting of the Society.