THE MAORI DEAK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 50, 13 January 1862, Page 2

THE MAORI DEAK.

(From the Spectator, September 21, 1861.)

Tuere is something very striking in the picture of the Maori chief. Wiremu Tamihana (or AVm. . Thompson, as he is called), as delineated in his own actions and letters, who now seems to be taking the command ofthe powerful tribe of AA raiKutos in the New Zealand war. AYe may be, perhaps we shall be, obliged to regard him as a political enemy, and to oppose his forces and his policy. The firmer, more lucid, and self-restrained his intellect, the more dangerous will he be as a foe, if he determines to encourage the AVaikatos to throw off the British rule. But, however this may he, we'can at least afford to do full justice to his'motives and his character, and to distinguish clearly between such a leader as he bids fair to be, aud the wily and grasping chicf.(W. King) who has been our opponent in the Taranaki war. The English settlers, it is said, have not more faith in their new commander, General Cameron, than have the AVaikatos in their new leader. And should the war, be renewed —especially if it be renewed on the undivided responsibility and at the sole cost of the English settlers in New Zealand, as our leading contemporaries seem to wish—we fear there can be no result short of the practical cxteiin'nuitiou of a fine aud powerful tribe, with its singular anil able chief. Tamihana (or Thompson) has much in him apparently both'of the religious and the political leader. He is a convert to Christianity, and, according to his own account, for n long time after his conversion he took the specific duties of a Christian preacher in the absence of any Christian minister. The missionary who had converted him was obliged to live in a AVaiknto district, at some distance, and the Maori therefore, except as regards •' baptism, and the administration of the sacrament," " stoodj" ashc tells us, '" in his place." He established and lias maintained for three years iv his own village, Matamata, a school of sixty children, and has been quite recently engaged in finding a suitable permanent teacher for these children. AYe shall see that these political functions materially modify his political policy, but if his eflorts.were primarily religious, he never lost sight of the secondary political results, which he hoped to bring out ofthe change of faith. It was his great grief to sec the multitude of potty intertribal strifes which divided, weakened, and disgraced his fellow-countrymen, and he spared no pains to set them at rest. Three such disputes his influence served to terminate. " I worked," he says, " at quarrels about land, and through my exertions the troubles wee with difficulty ended." But he saw with great pain that there was no root of civil order in the Maori institutions, anel it was . his effort to plant one. AA re must uot forget what the civil state of the" native society has become. Their potty laud strifes constantly succeed each other in continuous waves, while the British Government has, by its own confession, no power at alto deal with these. ''It ought to be under--.-tood," said Mr. Richmond, in 1858, '• that the British Government in New Zealanel has no reliable means but moral persuasion for the government of the aborigines. It is powerless to prevent the commission by natives against natives of the most glaring crimes. AVithout their consent it is impossible to survey or even to traverse the country ; much less conld the Government undertake the execution of roaels"; bridges, or other public works in native territory." Such was the internal anarchy wliich Tami.'iani sought to remove. He found the appeals to personal influence a merely temporary remeebf. He built, therefore, a large building wherein the different tribes might meet and discuss-their disputes. This was clone, but though the house was built, and the tribes assembled, mere assemblies did not lead to civil order. " Evil still manifested itself," •' the river of blood was not yet stopped." " I coi - sidered, therefore," he goes on, "how the river of blood could be made to diminish iv this island ; I looked into your books, where Israel cried to have a king fir themselves to be a judge over them. And I lojked at the words of Moses, in Deuteronomy xvii. 15." The passage alluded to s striking as showing bow eagerly, and perhaps unconsciously, the mind ofthe M-.iori chief clung to the thought of national independence. " Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose : one from among thy helhren shall thou set king over thee : thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is net thy brother." " I kept these words in my memory," says Taminana, " through all these years, the land 'feuds continuing all the time, and blood being spilt, I still meditating upon the matter." He adds, in another letter : " If all the kings of the different islands were from Rome only, from thence, also, might come one for here ; but is not the Queen a native of England, Nicholas [Taniihani is behindhand in his recent Russian history] of Russia, Bonaparte of France, aud Pomnrc of Tahiti, each of his own people ? Then why am lor these tribes rebuked by you, and told that we and you must mute together under the Queen ? How was it t1 c Americans were permitted to separate .themselves.? Why were not they brought under the protecting shade of the Queen, for that people were of the same race as the English, whereas I of this island am of a different race, nor nearly connected. My only connection with you is through Christ— Ephesians ii, 13." While Tamihana was thus

brooding over the political wretchedness of his fellow-countrymen, and searching in the Olel Testament history for their only adequate remedy, at the end ofthe" year 1856 the chief Te Hen Hen called a meeting at Taupo. Delegates'from all parts ofthe islsnd, to the number, it is said, of eighteen huiuircd, assembled at this convention, which was expressly designed to promote union among the Moarics. " AVhen the news of this meeting reached 1110," says Tamihana to the Governor, " I said, ' I will consent to this to assist my work, that the religion of these tribes that have not yet nniteil might Rave time to breathe.' I commenced at these words in the book of I. Samuel, viii. 5. ['Make us a king to judge us like all the nations.'] This is why I set up Potatu in 1857. On his being set up the blood, at once ceased, anel the tranquillity has remrined till now." This is as remarkuble a letter as any Christianised savage ever wrote. The strong hold evidently taken on him by the Old Testament Scriptures—the mixture of pure patriotism and keen ambition in the whole tone of the sentiment and thought—the strong desire to promote Maori civilisation, and the deep conviction that the burden of responsibility was laid upon him to solve " this difficult problem, and to choose the king who should best suit his countrymen—in a word, the half prophetic, half statesman-like tone of the whole narrative of his measures, reads almost like some passage from one of Cromwell's apologies for his sagacious anel deeply meditated, but [ not the less arbitrary measures.

But if this account of the train of thought by which Tamihana had been laid to advocate the Maori king-movement is curious, certainly not less so is the history of his policy during the late war. It shows a breadth of .caution and self-re-straint, an ability in negotiation with rival chiefs, and a strength in controlling the impetus of a popular feeling, which is rare indeed in a savage race. At the breaking out ofthe AVaitara war, Tamihana resolutely kept aloof. At a meeting of chief's called to express their opinion to tho Government as to its merits, Wiremu Tamihana moved the resolution earnestly condemning the treacherous Maori policy of murdering defenceless settlers which had so often been adopted at Taranaki. AVhen, however, the resolution condemning the rebel chief Kingi's motives for rebellion was brought forward, Tamihana refused to vote -for it simply alleging that there was not enough evidence on the subject,—that he did not understand the question clearly enough to condemn the rebel leader, though he could not then support him. Subsequently, he quarrelled witli a chief who was his friend, for joining, like many other individual AVaikatos, Kingi's rebellion, and used his whole moral influence to keep back the Waikatos from meddling in the war. Again, when a Waikato native was found dead—and as it was thought, murdercel by the English—he joined a formidable force which went to enquire into the cause of death, but used all his influence to hold back the rashness of the party, and when it appeared there was no evidence of foul play, he withdrew it altogetl er. After the battle of Mahoetahi, in which General Pratt defeated the auxilary YVaikato force, the exasperation grew so great among tlie neutral members of the tribe that many of them rushed into the war, and distinguished themselves by reckless and ill-judged assaults on the English position.

Then, and not till then, Tamihana, after the most pressing solicitations, went to the scene of war, but not as a belligerent—as a moderator. He wrote to General Pratt requesting a time for negotiation, which, after some misunderstanding he obtained. He then called- a meeting of his tribes, and advocated the unpopular pacific feeling, to their great disgust, but —so great was his authority—with success. His next difficulty was to bring over Wiremu Kingi. He told him that his quarrel, however just, was not one in which the 'AVaikatos .were interested. He said, moreover, that Kingi had been the head and mind of the war-policy, while the AVaikatos were merely summoned to his aid as physical auxili-tries in a contest in which they were unconcerned. This produced the desired effect. Kingi at once handed over the disputed land at Waitara to the Waikato chief, and declared that his gift was free, and tbat he claimed no further voice in the disposal ofthe land. Tamihana then gave his decision tlu.s —that all the forces of all tribes should go home, and the English troops should be requested to retire to Taraiiiki, leaving the- disputed land to the regular operation of law, as it should be declared by the judicial committee of the Privy Council on appeal. The English troops were not withdrawn, but Tamihana dispersed those of his own tribe and of AViremu Kingi's followers, and returned to the north, much dissatisfied with the conduct of the English. -Since he bas been there, the Governor of New Zealand has decided, probably wisely enough, that the Maori-king movement has fomented the spirit of insurrection, and cannot be permitted to go on ; —less wisely, perhaps, that the AVaikatos must make compensation for tlieir rebellion in joining with the party of AY. Kingi. Tamihana replies, that the Maori king was never meant to be a rival of the Queen, but only take the same position under her towards the Maories that is taken by the Governor of New Zealand towards the English settlers, anil he resists the demand for restitution. He has expressed his views very skilfully in a letter to the Governor, and in a subsequent one, dated "th June last, ho urges again very strongly the impolicy of hasty war. "Be not in haste," he says, "to begin hostilities." Let us duly remember the words of St. James, ' Swift to hear, slow .to wroth.' . . . .

But now, O friend, restrain your angry feeling ngnin.-t aU parts of New Zealand. Let our welfare be that of tha lips alone, If such be the courso pursued by us, it will be a long path, our days will be many while engaged in fighting that battle. Let it not be transferreel to the battle with hands. This is a bad road ; a short path ; our days will will not be many while engaged with ths edge of the sword; But do you, the first-born of God's sons, consider these things. Let not you and mo be committed to this short path. Let us take the circuitous one; though circuitous, its windings are upon firm ground." This is nt least quaint and characteristic writing, and tho whole policy of Tamihana indicates a moderation and self-restraint, and yet firmness of view, which is extremely unlike our notion of savage courage.

AA re do not tlunk that the Maori-king policy is consistent with the British Government in New Zealand. But we do feel that AViremu Tamihana has in him a vein of true, deep, and religious patriotism which, though probably not unmingled with personal ambition, is a spectacle rare enough and noble enough to awaken wonder, sympathy, and even emulation in tjie hearts of his English rivals. He is a religious statesman, with a feeling for the sacredness of peace as deep as Mr. Gladstone's, aiid a desire for national autonomy as strong as that of the Hungarian statesman, M. Deak. If he shows his patriotism, his fortitude, und his sagacity only on a narrow scale, —yet when we think that they are the fruits of a Christian graft on pure barbarism, they put the sagacity, patriotism, and fortitude of Europeans to shame.