RESULTS OF TEH WAR.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 77, 25 November 1864, Page 3

RESULTS OF TEH WAR.

;; We have ;been}diying i; mr a torn by rebellioh^for; mpre.than a, year aud a-haif. During the greater pare of xtuat- period we have had at our' disposal ten thousand British troops, with their Jarms of precision, -parks of artillery,? and; other-implements of scientific war... We have had, t ih addition to these, between, 4,ooo add. s,OoUmeir of the colonial forces oh regular pay, enlisted for a ; term of years ; 'and we'lia've had ; betwen . 4,000 and 5,000 militia arid' 'volunteers— some taking parfc'-in*the strife z'ulL ready to "do so-w/ieue'.veKC.ae: wave- of actual hostilities might sweep into the neighbourhood of/ their homes, which ij-wad ; ' their, business to defend. . Add to: this five .man-of-war steamers .of the British navy, and at l.ast v six other ironsteahiers (oue.irbh T c.lau), the property of. the Colonial Government ; a transport corps of nearly 25,000 horses'; aula cavalry defence Torce . 300 strong.' - ■?■•' : > -"-• '■■ - ■■'.-.' SI ,■-:■:■•-■■ • i i The enemy against whom this 'great ■■'; armament was arrayed consisted ol perhaps o,uuo men inarms, but of whom it is oeheved not 1,500 were ever brought into the field at one time, or in one district. It is further believed that' in nd action wnich has been fought ■ were there so many, as' 600 of the enemy opposed tcour troops,; while,., in some of the bloodiest encouniers, not more" than " Z6O or iiOO were opposed to a i" ree on our sidtfof at least" from twice -to lour or sis times that liuja ber. These enemies, -with whom our ai;ni> T hau to, , right, . were armed with old hint and steel , Tower muskets, wth Brummagem ibwini -pie e>, with tdmaliawKS, with sticks, .With greenstone meres, and similar weapons. At one "time' th'.y had three ' old'; cannons, taken from tlie wreck oi a whaler, out of which they fired steelyard s weights; stones, ten-: ! penny nads, door handle's, and 'other metal of the isame sort. These : rou'gh aud ready warriors haa no undbrins, and no clothes but _a lew shirts and. blauifets"; .they, were' innocent of goose step, 'of; t/uicK maivh, of slow uiliruh. of rigut about face,' ,and " shoulder art-urns." Their aimnuniuoii was | various: musket balls, boys' marbles, 'plugs o. !Wobu, hbbhaiis, and whatever would go into or come out of the muzzle of a guv. They had no doctors, with scalpels, and hauasavvs.und catheters, i and lint, and p ids, ana potions, ana dog-latin; no Ueputy-Uomniissary-Grenerais, Witli scarlet ana : gold, and blue ; no practised athletes enrolled a» i aiilitarvr trains ; no oaiias oL' music nor rations oi i*uin to put heart into a man;' whiie their o.iicer* were equally ignorant of Joiuiin and oilliards, ana not one ot tiieni owed a tailor c bill. Yet, this wrefcehea ragged i-aouie ; this undisciplined,- hali-si ar ved naked, assemblage of sa\ ages, have man -ged to hold tu> ir own, and nnd lull employment for ah tne SVht worths and En.ields ana lorry s, the doctors mv. vie L> A.O.Cx. s, the ti'ansport'corps and military trams, the bands ol ■ j.usio an I rations of rum, vvhi.-li lorn the ii^iir.---i g mute! al of tlv- three g ne ids, t c cm. .t.ess cv onelsi tue mnumerat.de majors, captains, iieutenants, and ensigns, who hare been sent 16,000 aides to give these barelegged gentry a lesson m •' the disciplines of the wars." ' , We have lost ail l'aiih in the history of British wars Poictiers aud Agincourt were tioubauour songs ; Oudenarde, ltamihies, aud Blenheim, were" works of hc.iui;" Jt'lass.-y, Assaye, ana Sjringapatam were " Jbiastern Luit.s ;" Salamanca,, Vittoria., and Waterlov.', were omy John jiuli'o brag; whue Luoimow and Delhi were highly colored labies invented as sets-oil to the Caoui retna. aaa Chdiian » a Jah. Un no other principle but one can we account for tlie immense difference between that which we have heara and that which we sec. The historian* and news ; paper correspondents would have us believe that these very ir >op.-, io,ooo of whom have scarcely suae.', c . in g tfcing up a, l.ttieeici einenfc among Cue uuorcL-cuca aiaotio, torceu tiieu- way through ovcrvvheiming armies oi sepoys, aud fought and 4«dued un-.ur Havdoek and Clyde, six or seven pitched battles m every week.! : Let them ted it to the Ma»\.n s , :o/ our p irt .we ..ec Lie to Believe it. We say it lSiiosclat- ly'univasou ble to expect us to bedeve it. The tiep0 v .s were well trained, well armed, wed clothed, well I'eJ, wed ouicered, and they outnumoereu our troops by twenty to one ; the whole country swaruud with them; they had fortified cities, uncs of dolencc, the sympathies of at least a hundred iniiuon of their country men, and a "climate winch was to the in ail ally worth an .army of a hundred thousand men. Yet we are' told that Haueloek, and Uutram, and the Lawrences, and Clyde, and a lew more such, with these very troops that we have m New Zealand, oeat down, crushed exun . uished, and utterly iroa out in barely two years, the most fearful revolt which ever occurred m the world's history. Here, with an undisciplined, bare-legged Maori . rabble, without cities or appliances of war, without even the sympathies of naif of their own people, aud uuaole to brmg into the field a tenth ol our ibrees, we have been a year aui a had attempting to put down; a deebiy ,orgaiuiod ..rebellion, aui haven't done it. We repeat; let them toil 'it to the Marines. There is, however, another theory on which we can, perhaps, reconcile the amazing discrei paney. Wlieu the great armies ol Britaai stained with their victorious blood the plains of France and Spam, or carried their colors in triumph to the remote -waters of the-, fciutiej: or. the jbtanges', i£ was mo'aiit tinit they shoull do it. When Wellington drove from the Peninsula the armies of the J&mpire, or Have Jock rescued English women at Delhi, they went to their work unchecked and uuconstrauied. . It was for that theU were sent ; and that they did. .Not so m Now Zealand. There has been here a check-string ai. work,,and that in the hands- of:a mau who. ne vetpulls a string but for his own purposes. The maste. 1 of ten. thousand bayonets, the "great pro-Consul," Baw that an army iuight.be used for more purposes; than putting down a revolt. It mi^ht be used for' budding dp a repuiution ;- — a reputation that had been for years ou the wane, and which could alone" be jrptrieved ,by ysome aarpit^ or desperaco game, such as only the maiter of 10,000 bayonets could piay. Credit is to be gained, not by tho army couyuering a peace, but by the Governor who patches one up. vr Hence it ib that the revolt in New SJoaiand at the end of eighteen months is ( still uncrushed. Hence ttis that the great section of the liritish. army wlneh T _has i.eon quartere i here for so, long 1 has so few jiaurels^to slfowi ana i Wiil carry away with it when it goes so ■'.little-.-additional fame. The revolt which it was sent to quell will be smothered for a season by a '"'peace' proclamation;" and the British Government will rio doubt r be;tpld ( that; thO; work;fdr f whioh tlie army and ti\o great pro-Oonsuf were sent has boon] eu>.«<e.a->t'i>)iy a x'omphshed. Tho army vriil bt-.^j yet id'ed, iiTvd |go pcriiaps to so'nio i\«H wUilre.'-i i V* rtvd'.t pro-ObhsiUl-rwdH hot thivarb 'U'a work. ]

rallowed to do it, with credit to itself; with-advan-lap 5 to"' thb¥e' ' wli6§e'"';"ihto nations, it" was, sen.tt.o.p^btech .-. ; But New Zealand 'will .not rank" .as its' moat glorious field, nor' will ..history be ready, to record that .the work it was Ujnt to do was douß. 'No blame, however ,to it. "Tlie blamo of a wasted, opportunity, and of a future. field, .of, trouble^when, that. army, .shall, be_. gone'i rests on" other shdnlders^ oh the shoulders of one to', whom' an army and a colony are alike as in hej balatice,' vveiglied against vhi3;Ownj3dif-agjj^an v disement. ' -„) ;- . --..-,-,/,: . ■'"u'^t / - {So the army wdl go" home;* "with a feeling of disgust, not vor^ weU understanding what -it came here for, what it wwa r taken; away.- for, or what it fdid when it was here:" li'vnll' iiev'^r feel exactly 'sure wliether it 'was in' winter- quarters', or m a campaign ; and when it gets the medals and the promotion, the V.C.'.s,; and _the. "bits of ribbon which fall to the lo . of thejfavored few, it will perhaps arrive at ihe conclusion that they who r distrib.ute r these .rewards - .know all . about Hhe matter, and- are-satistied with. .the result ..ofjthe_ -year- and- a half's occupation of those broad.plains 'of VVaikatc'to' which 'their 0 late "opponents are; invited to return in peace, on signing a declaration of allegiance; ' and' giving ' up ' a few acres of hill and swamp, to the satisfaction of the Governor and'the Geheral. . r A: ; ,';" _ s';' ;:.-/■■" .;"•;. r> '..i ;And-ad that we ; who remain behind will know is; tliat great scandal to; the nahie^ the; destruction of the province 'of -Tarafiaki;-' remaihs. ! . "uhredfeSsed',; : 'and its'- : reßtorati6iii'Uii-" J . attempted; tliat; ' the _' leadingl.'rebel ''. tribe, -the Ngatimaniopbto, : h'as scarcely lost amah, ahd^hbt'ah a^cre of its; land been taken possession .of. .byj our 'army; that Thonip&on, tlie '"'King-hiaker,' still holds out his s.ulky; ihdepeiidence, ready to renew the strife ; that Wanganui, and the country thenceto Wellington, are only Bayed from sharing the sauie ;i'ate of Taranaki by .the/ services" j 6 fa/ friendly tribe and the discretion r of the settlers ; •that even the principal' fruit of the last summer's campaign^ the J prisbners -of ftan'giririjJhave slipped "through the great pro-Consul's^ fingers, f and- now threaten us with ' a Northern war ; ' and-that;the i country is in' reality. in a more perdoul state -by far than it was before the 10,000 JBriliish bayonets r rferejsexifc to oar -jrelief. -^Southern. Cross.' ■./ ~r