SIR G. GREY AND THE CONSTITUTION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 437, 15 January 1890, Page 5

SIR G. GREY AND THE CONSTITUTION.

By W. L. Rees.

NO. IV.

The receipt of this despatch and of the Act of Parliament, and Orders-in-Council accompanying it, brought the difficulties under which Captain Grey laboured to a head. He had always previously informed the natives that the Treaty of Waitangi would be respected by the Crown and by the English people. He was now called upon to enforce an Act of the Imperial Parliament which destroyed the rights of the natives in their lands and practically abrogated the Treaty itself. He was the representative of the English Government and of the English Parliament which had brought this law into existence and commanded him to see to its administration. He was bound to obey the lawful commands of the Queen. He now found himself for the first time placed in this most difficult of all positions : either he must obey the mandate of the Parliament and Crown of Great Britain, and in so doing break the solemn treaty made with the natives, and destroy for ever the reasonable hopes which the Maoris had founded, upon the good faith of England and of Englishmen ; or he must refuse to carry out the mandates of his Sovereign and the law pronounced by the Parliament of his country. With great anxiety he weighed the matter in his own mind before arriving at any decision. On the one hand it might be urged that he was not responsible ; that if the Crown and Parliament were pleased after due deliberation to legislate in a certain way that he was but a servant, bound to administer the law as declared by his superiors. On the other hand he remembered that he was the agent and representative of a great monarchy ; that through him promises had been made by the Queen and Parliament of E ngland to the natives of New Zealand, and that even before he had set foot within the colony solemn treaties and engagements had been entered into, in which the good faith of England was involved, and which he, as the representative of the Crown, was bound to acknowledge, and that his promise of obedience extended only to the carrying out of lawful commands. If he fulfilled the immediate and positive duty imposed upon him he might be blameless, but the" fair fame of England would be tarnished. If, on the other hand, he refused to put in force the Royal and Parliamentary mandate, he might ruin his own prospects, but he could give time for reconsideration of the subject and the rise of wiser counsels.

Very grave and momentous local considerations also weighed upon the mind of the Governor before arriving at a decision. He was called upon suddenly to consider the position and probable conduct of the native race should the Act of Parliament be carriedintoexeoution. Thenewspapersunder the influence of the Company, both in Great Britain and the colony, had published the Royal instructions and the partial disavowal on the part ot Her Majescy’s Government of the provisions of the Treaty ot Waitangi. At that time we were engaged in a conflict with many great chiefs, and with large sections of the native tribes. Fighting under the standard of England were found many other great chiefs, and alarge and powerful following of their people. With great loyalty and persistent honour, Tamati Waka Neneand his brothers had adhered to the Crown. The great reason which had animated Tamati Waka in his opposition to Hone Heke, had been his disbelief in the statement made by Hone that the British Government was determined to take the land of the Maoris. “If 1 believed,” said Tamaki Wake Nene, “ if 1 believed with you that the Queen intended to take our lands, I should be found fighting at your side. Because I do not believe it I will fight against you to preserve order, and to keep good faith with the Queen.” They had acquiesced in the dictum of Captain Grey that they should not receive, as they had been promised, the lands of the rebel natives confiscated in war. They had voluntarily shared with Hone Heke for public purposes presents of money made to them by the Government, in order to convince the rebel natives that they were nob actuated by the desire of gain. Captain Grey had stood side by side with these men upon the field of battle. At the final struggle at Rua-peka-peka, where Hone Heke’s mana and influence were destroyed, some of their chiefs had been killed and others wounded. Tamati Waka’s brother William had been there shot through the body. While lying wounded on the ground he asked the Governor whether his wound was fatal. Then, taking the Governor by the hand, he asked him whether in his opinion he (Wi Waka) had done his duty to the Queen. The Governor in answer said that he had proved himself to be a brave and gallant soldier and a true man. Then the Maori, addressing the chiefs who surrounded him, said that after the words of the Governor it mattered little to him whether he lived or died. At the Council of Chiefs at Wanganui, nearly all the great leaders of the North had given their promise to support the Government, and named the number of men that they would bring into the field. When each chief had finished his statement he left the room, until at last Captain Grey was left alone with Te Wherowhero, many years afterwards Pobatau, the first Maori king. When no ear was there to listen, Te Wherowhero said, “ Oh‘, Governor, you have this day disgraced me before the chiefs of New Zealand. I am the greatest chief of the North Island. All these who have spoken to-day acknowledge my supremacy You have received promises from them of great numbers of warriors. I have but one man whom you brought with me from my tribe. But though I am not able to lead a great taua (war-party) to the field, yet to show my faith to you and loyalty to the Queen I will serve as a private warrior under one of these other chiefs.” The Governor had received inn umerable instances of seif denial, devotion and confidence from both chiefs and people,and Do was now asked or rather commanded to tell them that all the promises which had been made for 3 ears were to be broken, and they and their children were to be despoiled of the heritage which had been assured to them as the condition of their allegiance, by the Treaty of Waitangi. Nob only was the Governor oppressed by this feeling of ingratitude and breach of faith, but he was bound to recognise the danger of such a ptoceeding to the European inhabitants of the colony. Nine thousand Europeans, men, women, and children, were scattered far and wide in many settlements without means of communication or possibility of concerted measures of defence, everywhere surrounded by savage tribes, prompt in action, fearless in battle, unsparing in revenge. A few soldiers, unused to Maori warfare, a few men capable •of bearing arms, but mostly untrained to military service, were all on which he could have depended against a combined onslaught by the Maoris. The probabilities were all in favour of a war of extermination arising should the provisions of the Act of

Parliament and the Royal instructions be carried into effect. Within three months it was not only possible, but probable, that save in one or two fortified places no white people would have been left alive in these islands. Still further and mostimportantconsiderations weighed upon his mind and influenced him very greatly. George Grey had conceived the belief that the period in which he had be. n called to administer tht affairs of South Australia and New Zealand was the turning point in the history of the colonial policy of Great Britain. Foreseeing the vast extent of populated territory which would hereafter be subject to the Crown of England, contemplating as though already in existence the “ unborn millions ” of God’s creatures, and of his own race who were destined, in the mighty colonial Empire, to change or modify the history of the world, he was determined that in all constitutions or charters of government given to any one ormore of these that, so far as his ability allowed, those constitutions should be as perfect and free as the mind of man could make them. He knew how difficult it would be if a faulty constitution were once brought into exist-/ ence, to amend or to alter it. [ The Charter which had been granted to New Zealand was not, in his opinion, a charter for the people, but a charter simply for speculators, for the hungerers after land, and the shipowners, desiring freights and passengers, who helped so largely to form the New Zealand Company, and he believed it would perpetuate in this new land the worst abuses of the feudal system. He at once perceived that to bring this new Constitution with all its imperfections and proposed tyrannies into existence would in no sense give the power of self-government to the people of New Zealand, either of the few thousands already in the colony or of the millions who were destined to occupy it hereafter. During his ten years of official life he had become convinced that the Colonial Office was so little criticised or controlled by public opin on that every Mini-ter of an hour was able to perform illegal acts without detection and without punishment. He did not know to what extent these personal illegalities might be carried. Holding extreme views upon the importance of the colonies to Britain and their probable influence upon the future welfare of the world, he had determined from the first to oppose every wrongful act where opposition was possible ; for he saw that a day might come when, under some sudden pressure or political exigence, the integrity of the Empire might be impaired, and its existence threatened, without the consent of Parliament or people. He be lieved that the only hope for the Old World would be found in the Now. And ho dreaded the establishment in the colonies of those wornout and effete institutions and class distinctions, and that military rule, which threatened even yet the nations of Europe with universal destruction. To his mind the human regeneration of the world must come from the United States and the colonies of England. To him, therefore, the proposed Constitution was, in many respects, not only devoid of attraction, but absolutely repulsive. Deeper than all, and more sacred and powerful in its force, was the sense of duty to himself and to his Maker. A sentiment of abhorrence to injustice, falsehood and oppression made him shrink even at the command of Queen and Parliament, (especially as he knew them to be misled) from the performance of an act which while gratifying for the moment, the clamour of powerful and unscrupulous opponents would involve the disgrace of his country, the disappointment of the noblest hopes, and the suffering of many innocent and unoffending people.

There were at that time in New Zealand besides Captain Grey two men of more than ordinary greatness of character and capability of intellect, George August Selwyn, the Bishop of New Zealand, and the Chief Justice, Sir William Martin. These gentlemen, equally with the Governor, felt outraged by the promulgation of the principles contained in Earl Grey’s despatch, and were indignant at the attempted breach of faith contained in the Imperial Act and the Orders-in-Council. They made no secret of their opposition to the whole proceedings. The Chief Justice drew up a strong and indignant protest which was immediately forwarded to Her Majesty through the Colonial Office. The strongest of all grounds wei’d taken in this remarkable letter of remonstrance. It consisted of three parts, which respectively urged: I. That Earl Grey’s instructions involve a breach of the national faith of Great Britain. 11. That Earl Grey’s instructions involve a breach of established law. 111. A protest against the general doctrine put forth by Earl Grey as the principle upon which colonisation should be henceforth conducted by Great Britain. Perhaps no more vigorous and outspoken denunciations of a proposed wrongful act intended by a great Power were ever penned than those which were transmitted by Bishop Selwyn to the Governor in 1847 and 1848. In 1847, Selwyn had joined with the Chief Justice in protesting against the propositions contained in Earl Grey’s first despatch, and united with the Chief Justice and many others in pointing out the great and imminent dangers which . would suiTound the Europeans in New Zealand if the Act and instructions were enforced. In answer to that protest, Earl Grey had transmitted a vigorous animadversion both upon its manner and the matter contained in it. On August Ist, 1848, Selwyn, in along letter to Governor Grey, enclosing a copy of the pamphlet written by the Chief Justice, deals in a most masterly manner with the statements made by Earl Grey and the position taken up by the Imperial Government. The Bishop’s letter is unanswerable. With plain and forcible logic he exposed the weakness and inconsistency of the case made out by the Secretary for the Colonies, and disproves by historic quotations and the expressed opinions of the greatest jurists, living and dead, the statements made by Earl Grey as to the rights of savage tribes to their lands. He cites the history of colonisation in America. Quoting the writings of Sully, Blackstone, and Kent, he shatters the weak and illogical deductions of Earl Grey,and destroys without hope of rehabilitation theargumentswhich the Earl had used in defence of his remat kable despatch. Without hurry or impatience but with due regard to the gravity of the occasion and the importance of the issues involved, the Governor weighed the arguments upon both sides with impartiality. A great trust had been comm tted to his care, and Lord Stanley had already forewarned him as to the responsibilities which would attach to his governorship of New Zealand. Neither had anticipated the exact form in which this responsibility would come. The issue showed that Lord Stanley had not miscalculated the courage of the young officer so suddenly promoted, and that the character of Captain Grey was equal to the task imposed upon it. His resolution was soon taken. He determined to suspend the operation of the Act, and decided also in his own mind that if the Imperial Government persisted finally in introducing it they mast seek some other agent than himself for that purpose. His refusal to obey the orders of Ministers in London was- not based upon the same

i grounds as animated the angry corrosponi dence between Bishop Selwyn and Earl i Grey, or the impressive remonstrance made i by the Chief Justice. Jealous of the i honour and reputation of his superiors, Governor Grey determined to see nothing in his instructions but that which was consistent with law and with the good faith of the Empire. He therefore answered Earl Grey as if no infraction of the Treaty of Waitangi had been intended, and he assumed that whatever might be the abstract reasoning in the noble Earl’s letter as regards the rights of savage nations to their lands, this was not intended to refer to those lands of the natives, which, under the Treaty of Waitangi, had been assured to the Maori tribes. (Governor Grey to Earl Grev—May 3rd, 1847, New Zealand Papers, Imperial Parliament, December, 1847, pp. 42 to 46.) The other reasons upon which he justified his action were set forth clearly in his answer to Lord Grey’s despatch. The principle which actuated him he declared in his memorandum in reply to a letter from Lord Lyttelton on his return to England in 1854. “ When Parliament, from want of / sufficient information, legislates wrongfully or unjustly for a distant nation subject to its laws, unless the high officers of the Empire will take the responsibility of delaying to act until they receive further instructions the Empire cannot be held together. For the moment such an Act of Parliament arrived in a country, the people,hopeless of that redress which ought to be afforded to them, would break out into revolt : whilst, could they have hoped that their complaints would have been listened to before the law was enforced, they would have continued loyal and dutiful subjects. “ In declining, therefore, to break promises which I had made as Her Majesty's representative, and in endeavouring to obtain a further consideration of the course which I felt certain Parliament had unadvisedly taken ... I feel that I did my duty as a faithful servant of my Queen and country, and will cheerfully undergo every risk and punishment which may follow from my having adopted that course.” (Memo, by Sir George Grey, July 6th, 1854.) Happily as it ended, the danger to which Captain Grey exposed himself was of a nature to have overcome a mind of ordinary character and a courage of ordinary firmness. He was not only taking upon himself to bid defiance to the Queen and Parliament in a matter which had been solemnly discussed for weeks within the wails of St. Stephen’s, but he was well aware that he was raising a host of enemies in all classes of the State who would pursue him with bitter and unrelenting hatred for the remainder of his life. He knew the characters, the power and influence of many of the persons whose path he thus crossed, and whose plane he deliberately frustrated. As in the early days of his explorations as amid the storms of disapprobation which he had been compelled to meet in South Australia, and as in after years, both in South Africa andin New Zealand, he steadfastly and silently faced insult, accusation, and injury, in what he believed to be the performance of his duty, so he now determined, at all cost and hazard, to pursue the straight path of righteousness and justice He was confident that the truth was mighty and would prevail, and he was sustained nob merely by his own conviction, but by the warm sympathy and vigorous aid of Selwyn and Sir William Martin. So strong and convincing were the argu ments and reasons adduced by the Governor, that the English Government immediately passed a Bill—nob to impeach the Governor of New Zealand for con tumacy, nor to dismiss him from the public employment because he had practically ignored the commands of the Parliament and the Crown, bub to suspend its ow T n Act for five years, during which period full posver was given to the Governor to raise such a Constitution as he might deem proper in the interests of the mother country, and of both races in the colony of New Zealand.

Thi9 was the first, though not the last time that George Grey brought himself into direct collision with the Government of England and the Imperial Parliament His disagreements with the Home Government had not always so complete a vindication, nor so happy a result: but it will be seen as we proceed that that opposition, whenever called into existence, sprang from the same lofty motives and the same intense determination to do right, whatever might be the consequences. In the life and conduct of no public man recorded in history has the true meaning of the Latin motto been more clearly illustrated, “Justitia fiat ruat ccelum.”

Within the colony the tumult never quite subsided, but as years rolled on the best and worthiest of those who opposed the Governor’s resolute conduct gave in cheir adhesion to the justice of his views. One notable instance, from which may be judged the feelings of many, is that of Dr. Featherston, who years afterwards said that Sir George Grey was “the greatest benefactor that the colony ever had.” For years both in the Imperial Parliament and in the colony the quarrel raged. It only sank finally to rest when upon Sir George Grey’s return to England in 1854 Lord Lyttelton in the House of Peers, and Sir John Pakington and Mr Adderley in the House of Commons, made futile and abortive efforts to obtain the sanction of Parliament to a condemnation of his conduct. In New Zealand to the present time there are a few, who, like Sir William Fox, cherish yet the angry feelings that were raised within them more than forty years ago.