To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, April 25th, 1848.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 287, 29 April 1848, Page 2

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, April 25th, 1848.

Sir, — From what we can glean from those Parliamentary discussions, as given in your Journal of last Saturday, and also from an article entitled "Government of New Zealand," extracted from the limet, Dec. 15, 1847; it would appear that the true position of affairs hero is but imperfectly understood at home. In these statements we find many allusions made to that political petty larceny business, committed here, at the commencement of the colony, and which has since rejoiced in the high sounding appellation of the " Treaty ofWaitangi;" an arrangement which was never recognised by the natives, never appealed to by its contrivers, but as a barrier opposed to colonisation, or as affording a handle to be used against the interests of the settlers: It had its origin in a timid, vacillating, short-sighted government, and is the result of bribery and corruption, and as such, having been, for years, held up as the apology or warrant for every other speciea of colonial jockeyship, which expediency might suggest to a languishing Executive, as the only safe means of keeping up appearances ; it is therefore under such circumstances much to be regretted that it cannot now he tacitly acted upon, or as may be : at any rate as this "Treaty" was obtained in haste, in the days of unleavened bread, when there was no Bishop in our Israel, it is to be deplored that the Lord Bishop of this colony does see fit to take cognizance of the matter, and now so far to play the knight-errant, as in his spirited Protest, to style himself " the Head of the Missionary Body"' respecting a proceeding, which, had his Lordship been here, it may be presumed, he would never have countenanced. Nevertheless if his Lordship will desperately tumble Apron and Mitre among such a curious group, he must expect, at home, to have unworthy motives attached to his conduct. As to his Lordship's Protest, I would respectfully urge it to be the only straightforward, Englishman- like effusion that I ever observed to emanate lrom the order of which its illustrious writer prcfesses himself the head. I would, at this time, again solicit public attention to the consideration of the circumstances in which this portion of the colony is placed ;

and bow little iti situation is understood , at home. — Est locus, Wanganatm, Maori cognomine dicunt Terra antigua, poteas Maoris atque übere glebie ; the recollections of the past year, as connected with which, are fraught with painful and htiifliliating ssociations. I have seen renorare dqh>rem, brave men trotted out and in befqftf an insolent and untutored foe, a country laid waste, Oh beati procul !— its inhabitants ~ matres que, viroi que, Collectam exilio pubem, miserabile vulgus ! naked savages yelling defiance, a British soldiery, so hampered with restrictions, as to neutralize its operations ; quceque ipse mUerrima vidi. Of all this is Governor Grey aware, and that this was done, at the expense of national credit, and colonial resources, to serve exclusively his own narrow and tortuous policy. By jockeying Mamuko and Co., making the rebellious party a present of the property stolen from the settlers; and by so smoothing over the war, his Excellency, at a distance, may hare gained more laurels, than by boldly meeting the enemy, crushing the revolt, and so securing or re-acquiring the settlement : but in the impressive language of the " Protest" " God being my helper," I would rather, by the disasters of Wanganui, be brought to naught, than gain a reputation, built on the ruins of this ill-fated district, and held on the precarious tenure founded, so far us Wanganui is concerned, on Perversion of Fact. I remain, Sir, your faithful servant, Henry Shafto Harrison.