South Canterbury Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2694, 7 November 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1881.

CArTUHED without resistance! So ends, for a time at least, the story of Te Whiti. No divine power has intervened to save the prophet from the hands of the policemen. We may hope that the crisis is now over and that our citizen soldiers will soon return to their homes without having drawn blood. We recognise the necessity that lay upon the Government to exhibit their resources to the Natives. Such a course was probably the most calculated to ensure a bloodless victory, and things having come to the pass they had we endorse the action of Mr Bryce most cordially. His plans were well considered and thoroughly executed, and so far they have succeeded admirably. It is a matter for thankfulness that the Government has had no occasion to use their power—not only because in the event of war hundreds of our countrymen would inevitably have bitten the dust, but because the Government having unsheathed the sword most likely could never have replaced it until they had virtually exterminated a considerable section of the Native race, and no friend of humanity could have beheld unmoved a diminution by such means of a people whose qualities, mental and physical, have always commanded our admiration and respect. The telegraphic despatches which we published in our last issue were short enough, but not without a certain pathos between the lines. On the arrival of the troops, every man with “ eighty rounds of ammunition,” the Natives were found “ dressed in holiday fashion.” Te Whiti, it is said, told the Natives to “ sit close and be stout-hearted.” The scene has an unmistakeable pathos in it. The invader is at their doors, armed and in great force ; —it may be their destiny is about to be fulfilled, and this fifth of November to be here-

after recorded as the saddest in Maori annals. Whatever may betide, the patriotic seer who, in the hour of their perplexity, has been heart and soul their champion, and always their guide and mentor, still counsels them wisely at the supreme moment. It may be death is at hand, but in any case they will be together, “ sitting close and keeping stout-hearted.” This was conduct full of dignity. Resistance would be fruitless, but a brave endurance was possible, and this the Natives in their extremity exhibited. We trust that the capture of Te Whiti and the other men of mark will not be the signal for the outbreak of angry feelings—but that Mr Bryce may succeed in restoring order as effectually as he has succeeded in this great arresting coup. Successive Governments have made fair promises, followed by meagre performances, to the Natives, and they have come to distrust the word of every Government. They do not deem it possible to obtain any measure of right by force, knowing that contention between themselves and the Europeans must eventuate in their own extermination. But whether actuated by an idea of their own or acting under legal advice, they have adopted a policy of passive resistance. Should this attitude not avail to protect them from eviction, they will have exhausted the only means at their disposal, and nothing will be left them but submission to injustice and the “ oppressor’s wrong.” It is probably in some such strain as this that the Maoris speak of the situation. It is in no Exeter-hall spirit that we earnestly counsel moderation and mercy in dealing with this “ remnant that survive.” The Maoris are no ordinary savages. They have exhibited a military skill, fidelity, and capacity for receiving and taking advantage *of civilizing influences, never before exhibited in an English colony by an aboriginal race. We come with a vaunted superiority in all things and possess their land. We are probably only fulfilling the law by which the strong surmount the weak, but it is the boast of our civilization that we use our power with moderation, and it would be a grievous thing if we in oar dealings with the Maoris should falsify this generally accepted belief. Ss far as Te Whiti is concerned, we doubt not he will receive at the hands of his captors, not a bare measure of justice, but the consideration due to a patriot in every age and clime. It would be hard to call his action a crime —but, above and beyond our laws, (that are at best but the laws of expediency) there is a higher, a grander, a more binding law—the law of humanity—and the claims of that law must be fully satisfied by the conquering race.

Te Whiti, hitherto the ruling spirit, and Tohu his coadjutur, are in custody, but it is extremely doubtful whether the “ Native difficulty ” is much nearer a settlement. The conduct of their people ou Saturday shows that they have fully imbibed and comprehended the teaching of their prophets, and the events of that day themselves would give them a lesson that passive resistance, while it renders retaliation by extreme violence impossible, yet gives them a powerful leverage in moving the Europeans to deal justly with them, according to their own idea of justice. It is only by force that they can be obliged to give up their lands, and they have learned how to disarm the only force that could be effectually used against them. It is apparent that other leaders, now completely impressed with the belief that an unarmed opposition will be the most effectual, will succeed the captured chiefs, and the further developments of the “ difficulty ” threaten to be as troublesome as those of the past.