THE STANDARD. SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1878.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 51, 10 May 1873, Page 2

THE STANDARD.

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1878.

•“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

Wk know of no duty so fraught with grave responsibility, and the perfonnnnce of which requires so calm, and dispassionate a judgment, as that which is imposed upon the settlers of this island by Sulltvas’b death at the hand of Hauhaus. Disguise it as we may; there can be no doubt in the mind of any person conversant with native affairs in New Zealand during the last dozen years, that our troubles in this direction, are far from being at an end; and even if they were, it would be a weak argument to advance in support of the continuance of a peace purchased at the price of individual murders. Far be it from our sense of what ought to be done in the circumstances, to advocate a hasty or ill-judged appeal to arms, in a military or fighting sense; but, that an armed force must,. in the interests of justice and humanity, demand the surrender of these atrocious villains no one can deny. The necessary sympathy, and moral and physical support will be given cheerfully to the Government by those who have suffered before, and who rather prefer the certain calamities of what may be a final struggle, to the insecurity and uncertainty of life under tho present humiliatingconditions of an unreliable peace. The position of the Government at this juncture is not one of an enviable kind. It can be defined only by a syllabus containing two separate theses —involving two distinct issues, namely,

Ist. Are they prepared to assert the prerogative of their dominion, by a recourse to those measures which may again devastate the land, or 2nd. Will they, can they, stop short in their administration of retributive justice, at the instance or caprice of this thing of a “ King,” until fe chooses to allow the murderers of our settlers to be given up —and thereby proclaim that we are unable to govern the people we profess to christianize and to rule ? It is but a proper view to take of the matter to decide that all peaceful means should be used, before proclaiming the acceptance of a co-ercive alternative; but we fall far short of our duty if we hastily accept the doctrine that the taking of one man’s life had better re-

main an unavenged sacrifice, than that a righteous doom should overtake his murderer at the possible cost of many others. To say nothing of the effect this stealthy life-taking will have on the minds or those whom we are inviting to this country, to share it with us, let us take up the question personally and individually to ourselves. The land was free and open to all from one end to the other. No political necessity prevented the peaceful travel of our people. No suspicion lurked in the mind of the Government that danger attended oui intercourse with the natives. There were no boundary lines drawn, as ol old, beyond which it was unsafe to go ; and yet, suddenly, banditti appear, armed to the teeth, who slake their thirst with blood from the first victim they encounter, and for what ? Let us suppose a valued friend, a parent, or other relative ; whose heart, yet warm, is torr by ruthless, uncompromising savages, from an already mutilated body; whose bones are bleaching in the autumn sun;

whose head, on which we shall gaze no more, is borne upon a spear by a horde of hell-devils, who hope by incantations of blood to invoke their companion demons to deeds of yet deeper dye, and maintain indifference if we can. The future settlement and occupation of the country depends entirely on the safety and protection we can guarantee to the individual; let us then calmly consider and say whether the sword of Damocles shall tall on our enemies, or remain sus> pended, possibly to fall upon ourselves. But still a question of such magnitude must be decided upon grounds that are more impersonal than those involved in the mere individual interest of the person deciding. And here we have the material on which to work. This is essentially a people’s question; it is a question in which the well-being and safety of the whole island are centred ; and the greatest good of the greatest number must be the end we aim at. Amid all the perplexing difficulties of our position there is a gleam of hope and satisfaction at the prospect of help in a quarter from which, perhaps, we might least expect it to come. The Waikato Timet, which argues the question in a straightforward way—regardless of consequences,—tells us that Tawhiao will not shield the murderer, but will aid in his surrender to justice. That’s very good. The attitude the Ngatiraukawas are assuming in determining to carry on their surveys, under cover of their guns, is also assuring so far as it goes: but do all these compensate for the abject humility of the Government being obliged

to the Wellington Independent) “ to ASK the ‘ king ' to hand over the murderers of Sullivan ”! Here we come to the key note of the the whole question ; and we ask, are we right in continuing to recognize; were we right in ever recognizing the existence of a kingdom, separate and independent of ourselves, set up by a band of barbarians whom we wish to save and not destroy ? The various processes of civilizing this people have been an ignominious failure; and if ever opportunity occurred in which it was our duty to demand and not to supplicate, it is now. To ask for the performance of that which we have a right to command, is but to recognise the superiority of those to whom we apply, while it helps them to an attachment for a power which we grandiloquently profess does not exist in thepiping tunes of peace. This much, in conclusion, is our lonj ’ established conviction for the hope o' this fair land. Let the Government, unhesitatingly, do their duty: the country is with them. If fighting amm* come, let it come and welcome, W with this proviso: let it bo-nay make

it—the last Proscribe all in arms against us as outlaws; denounce the “king” and all his host Draw a cordon between us and them, and drive them to the hills. Arm every man on the frontiers of settlement with a rifle; and, like our cousins over the sea, be it our duty to look upon every native without that line as our mortal foe, who will take our lives if we do not take his. Then the land will have rest in years to come.