CAPTAIN GREY'S POLICY. [From the South Australian Register, October 6.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 248, 15 December 1847, Page 2

CAPTAIN GREY'S POLICY. [From the South Australian Register, October 6.]

The intelligence from New Zealand continues to be of an unsatisfactory character, and appears to offer no prospect of improvement. In the two years which have nearly elapsed since Captain Grey assumed the Government of that colony, little more has been done than to transfer the seat of war from the north to the south. Peace has been reestablished at the Bay of Islands; and' that settlement is rising from its ashes and recovering something of its former prosperity. But the smaller settlements in the neighbourhood of Port Nicholson, which were before peaceful and progressive, have been destroyed or abandoned, and that under circumstances which forbid the hope of their re-establish-ment, excepting by means of the utter subjugation of the natives, or of the most ample recognition of their rights : and neither "of these events seems within the bounds of a reasonable probability. So loug, however, as Great Britain will sanction a lavish war^expenditure there, the present system and Governor will be highly popular amongst all those who profit by the outlay. There is great difficulty in forming an,unbiassed opinion upon the struggle which is now in progress there —because the. t acts of atrocity on the part of individual natives create a feeling of indignation against the' whole body of NW Zealanders and of sympathy for the suffering settlers, which scarcely permits the exercise of a calm and unprejudiced judgment. But, if ever the history of the proceedings of the New Zealand Company bs truly written, it will be acknowledged that the conduct of the natives has been marked throughout by a degree of forbearance surprising in an uncivilized people, and doubly creditable from the circumstance that the settlers were absolutely in their power. It should be remembered that a claim was gravely set up to their lands as having been " fairly purchased and paid for," at the rate of something less than a farthing for twenty acres; and that under this " fair purchase" they were required to abandon their dwellings,' their cultivations, and their burial-grounds. And a« these same natives were sufficiently intelligent not merely to acquire in »fewiye*rs'the-*rti of agriculture, bnt-Vo piy for the'ertction of»

mill to grind their produce, some excuse may be found for their refusal to acquiesce in this ** fair purchase," and their determination to maintain their possessions at all hazards. And some credit also is due to them for their forbearance .in living peaceably by the side of men who. urged such a claim, and who were accustomed to boast that a time would soon 'come when their pretences would be enforced by the military force of the empire. In one particular, however, we must confess that the natives manifested a truly savage simplicity — they believed what they were told of the honour of the British Government and the inviolability of British lavr. As might be anticipated, they have met with the appropriate reward of tfaeir credulity, i We remember that Wordsworth, in one of his noble sonnets — speaking for the Tyrolese, who were then threatened by the arms of Napoleon — thus expresses their sentiments : " This land we from Our fathers had in trust, And to our children will transmit, or die ; This is our virtue— <-this our liberty, And God and Nature say that it is just." In this spirit, and almost in these words, have the New Zealanders replied to the overtures made to them to barter their own and their children's birthright for the paltry price which the Government is not ashamed to offer; and they are denounced as barbarians incapable of appreciating the blessings of civilization, and unworthy of a moment's regard. The injustice of such a procedure is sufficiently apparent, but its folly is even yet more palpable. The Government is expending hundreds of thousands of pounds in order to accomplish, violently and illegally, an object which might have been attained by just and peaceful measures, for less than a tenth of the cost. And when to this unnecessary and wanton waste of tieasure are added the bloodshed and desolation, the sacrifice of life and property, the interruption to industry, and the destruction of all confidence in their integrity and good faith, which their rash and arbitrary proceedings will occasion, it will not be easy to find in any recent occurrence a more signal instance of combined injustice and folly. Or if & further ingredient were wanting, it would be found in the circumstance that all this has been done for no public or national end, but simply to enable a tiading association, like the New Zealand Company, to consummate by force, proceedings commenced in fraud. . When Captain Grey visited Wellington he found a body of natives settled upon land in the Valley of the Hint, which they claimed as n tifcir properly. Here they bad built their houses and place of worship, and had nearly a thousand acres under crop. Without any legal formalities — in fact without any formalities at all, he drove them from the settlement, burnt their houses and chapel, occasioned if he did not permit, the plunder of their property, and destroyed their crops. This step was so completely at variance with the general tenor of his policy — which was iv other respects humane and conciliating, that we are at a loss to account for his motives. But whatever the grounds of the measure, it has proved as illadvised as it was arbitrary, aud has involved consequences whicSi are as yet but half developed, and of which it is impossible to foresee the termination. And we imagine there are few of our readers but will be disposed to admit, on the assumption that the New Zealanders are human beings, and without reference to whether they are savage or civilized, that such conduct was calculated to provoke resistance and retaliation. Up to this period, however, the general policy of the Government of New Zealand has been undoubtedly just and honorable. The instances of oppression have been infrequent and exceptional, arising, probably, from imperfect information or misconception, rather --ifyan from design. And accordingly, both Captain Fitzroy and Captain Grey have received the active support of. the influential chiefs. But for this assistance the troops would have been cooped up within the narrowest limits, and the settlers must have concentrated themselves literally within the walls their towns. But Earl Grey has chosen to consider that the treaty of Waitangi, by which . the sovereignty of the country waa ceded to him, is not binding upon the British Crown, and he has intimated his design to confiscate for the use of the Crown all the land in New Zealand not actually occupied at the moment by the natives. It is thus that he proposes to recompense the loyal British subjects of native race in New Zealand for the honorable fidelity with which they have fulfilled their engagement to the Crown ! It is not however, surprising that one who has not scrupled to violate the provisions of an Act of Parliament in this colony, should disregard the provisions of a treaty in another. But we may venture upon 6ne prediction in reference to this pomt — that if once the natives are made to understand his purpose — all hope of peaceful settlement in New Zealand is at an end for the present ; and the North Island at least, may be considered as blotted from the list of Btitith colo- ' niei for « qn«tt>£.o&a-c«Mory.