To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. 23d August 1845.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 47, 30 August 1845, Page 2

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. 23d August 1845.

August, Sir, —l was particularly struck a few days ago, in one of my peregrinations along the Beach, by a casual conversation between some individuals who apparently accidentally met — one of them from the coast, who among other things was asked what damage the late flood at the Manawatu had caused to the few settlers located in that district, —and on being satisfied on that point, one of the party —an army officer —very shrewdly, as he thought, observed —that it was in reality a good thing, for it would have the tendency in future of making people more cautious where they built their houses. " Aye, aye," was the much shrewder reply, " I dinna ken that —there is naething seems to gie ony warning for acting better for the future : Look to the Bay o' Islands!" The gent, stood amazed at this unexpected rebuff; but being an unprejudiced man, at once acknowledged the justness and aptness of the rejnark. Jn still farther proof, however^-Mr, Editor, of this total want of foresight in the persons administering the government affairs of Great Britain, I would just submit, through the medium of your valuable journal, the following, as far back as 1812, from Soane's Life of Wellington, p. 88:— " So great, Wdeed, had been the havoc, that it is said even the iron Wellington was melted into a passionate expression of grief for the loss of his gallant soldiers. Well might it be so, since none knew better than himself that all this waste of human life would have been spared had the Government at home done its duty. ' I trust,' says he, when writjngsubsequentlyto General Murray, «tlx*t future armies will be equipped tor sieges with the people necessary to carry them on as they ought to be; and that our engineer* will learn how to put their batteries on the crest of the glacis and to blow in the counterscarp, instead of placing them wherever the wall can be seen, leaving the poor officers and troops to get in and cross the ditch as they can.'" Siege ofßadajoa. Here, at this siege, there was an immense sacrifice of human life —every sort of missile, from the slug (for in addition to the ball, the muskets of the enemy were loaded with a cylindrical box full of small shot) to the bomb and cannon-ball, was poured in one continuous stream upon the British assailants, without their being able to destroy scarcely any of the French —meanwhile the enemy jeeringly asking them from ramparts thickly-studdedwith two-edged sword-blades and long spikes —why they did not come in toßadajoz? —and it was only, after all, by a purely accidental

occurrence,-which a single day longf would have counteracted,-that the place was taken ; for it would then have been impregnable to the means at the Duke's disposal, and the fate of Peninsula might have been completely altered Here Tthis by glorious success i,-but it was the merest accident that prevented its being otherwise. It was gained, however, by so great a loss of life, that even the iron Duke, says the historian, " was melted into a passionate expression of grief." Is it not supposable also (though we in the South have heard nothing of it) that the brave Captain Robertson, Colonels Huhne and Despard, were melted in heart for the unnecessary sacrifice of their brave officers, seamen, and soldiers, and cursed the day that ever such a madman as Fitzroy was appointed by our Arch-enemy at home to hold the reigns of government of a British colony. — (An infant colony especially ought to be blessed with a father rather than a/00/for its head.)— Wkat must have been Hulme's remorse when he saw that the rocket-battery was a mere mockery ? — and he wisely retirea to save his men from so unequal a contest. But what must have been poor Despard's feelings, and those under him, after all their labour and toil, to find that the guns were not worth a single ■ ? Here let us pause, and think of the dead — the brave Phillpotts ! the devoted leader of the forlornhope—and his gallant associates, who now repose in the dust. What the sequel of this country's doom may be it is easy to imagine ; and is as certain as the sun shines i* the heavens, unless this madman and his inanity minions be removed. A Settler.