VOLUNTEERS AND SOLDIERS.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 303, 14 September 1860, Page 3

VOLUNTEERS AND SOLDIERS.

The eulogy pronounced by the Times on the gallantry of the New Zealand Volunteers will be confirmed by subsequent facts. The opinions expressed in that journal on the whole case are, however, liable to lead to serious mistakes. The censure pronounced upon the conduct of the military for having failed to support the efforts of the sailors and volunteers to capture the strong places of the natives, will be considerably qualified when all the circumstances become known. From information obtained from a gentleman lately resident in New Plymouth, we are confirmed in our former conclusions, that although _ there may be ground to suppose that a more dashing commander than Colonel Gold might have seized some advantages, nevertheless the difficulties of his position were awfully great. The preservation of New Plymouth from an attack of the natives—constantly threatened, and which in the absence of. a strong protecting force, might have been successful—was the paramount duty of the officer responsible for the'lives of the people. Nothing can exceed and spirit and energy displayed by the volunteers and naval forces. There is, however, always risk in circumstances so peculiar as those of New Zealand, that difference to command should be in some degree weakened, and for want of perfect submission and full reliance, that a sytem of military operations should be imperilled. We gather from the article in the limes, that in the opinion of that journal the presence of a regular force is unnecessary-—a most dangerous conclusion. We have all, indeed, had occasion to remark the want of adoption of ordinary military tactics to the new species of warfare, and the desirableness of so training and clothing the troops as to enable them to contend with the peculiar difficulties of the country. But considering the relative proportions of the population, and the distances of. their location, it is quite clear that the withdrawment of the British force would involve the colony in a great disaster, and some settlements probably in destruction. It appears from the last census that there were 63,000 natives in the northern island; of these about 30,00Q,are capable of bearing arms. In semi-barbarous countries every adult male is a warrior, and often the women are present to assist in their campaigns. Of these 30,000 some are friendly natives. Their continuance as such will greatly depend on the early defeat of their rebel countrymen. The white inhabitants of the island amount to some 34,000 but of these the larger proportion are of course >. women and children. They have been scattered over the country in rural pursuits, and are obliged either to unite for the defence of their homes or to take refuge in the strong places in the possession of the British. Thus the military force which could be provided by the colonists is utterly insufficient to maintain their ground, to say nothing of the impossibility of supporting themselves during the total suspension of labor, aud the ordinary resources of their industry.

The principle laid down by the Times is undoubtedly correct—that while the British Government furnish the colonies to the utmost with all appliances which may enable them to defend themselves, the actual task of 'defence should to the utmost of their strength devolve upon the colonies. But under all the circumstances of New Zealand, this is a task far beyond their strength. It must be so in the first stages of colonisation in the presence of a numerous savage people. Either the British Government should have resolutely refused to enrol New Zealand am us* the territories of the Crown, or calculated during the first years of colonisation to afford sufficient military force to make up for the weakness of the colonists. Aa they increase in number—and their increase has been rapid—they will be able to maintain their own, and to relieve the British Crown of the necessity of furnishing soldiers. It may appear hard to British statesmen to impose the cost and burden of defence upon the English nation, who have domestic obligations to discharge; but it must be recollected that the origin of the war is in the policy of the British Government.

We do not complain of that policy. It is founded upon just principles.-- But the collision which has arisen with the natives has been produced, first, from the British Government having declined many of the duties of sovereignty, and thus permitted insurrection to ripen, which can only be crushed by a strong hand, and then by laying down principles in the mspesal of land, which have been a source of perpetual irritation. The colonies, as such, are generally averse to the British policy, because the colonists, as such, would naturally wish to acquire land upon the easiest possible terms. The British Government wisely, no doubt, considering the future national interest, has interposed a check on the alienation of the native territories; and from this as well as from other causes the spirit of hostility has been generated. The British Government has generally 'leaned to the natives rather than the colonists wherever the two might come into collision. Thus even municipal laws, such as a bill for the registration of dogs and for the construction of roads, have either been disallowed or contained clauses specially exempting the natives from their operation. The colonists have felt that a power above them, and in some measure practically hostile to them, has thrown its shield over the natives, to exempt them from the fair results of civilization, while its benefits have been secured to them at the expense of the colonists themselves.

While our sympathies are strong with the colonists, yet at this distance from the seat of warfare, and independent of all local influences, we are not insensible to the danger, that if the suppression of a dangerous revolt were to be referred solely to volunteers, in the end it might be characterised by circumstances shocking to the humanity of the British nation. Such dishonoring and deplorable events are thickly strewn through the annals of American history. The settlers who suffer an injury perhaps under circumstances of extreme cruelty, and whose property has been destroyed, are driven to measures of the fiercest retaliation. To remove from them the possibility of future aggression they strike without mercy the defenceless and the un-offen&ing^-thej/seefo not the extinction of a rebellion, but of a race. We mean no accusation against the people of New Zealand, who, hitherto, we believe, have exhibited no such sentiments except in words, but we form our conclusions from the permanent tendencies of our common nature. We believe that the withdrawment of British troops, and thus the means of moderating the fervours of resentment and giving protection and defence to the natives as to the subjects of the British Crown, would be a deplorable mistake in a conflict like this, and end in national disgrace. We cannot disguise from ourselves, looking at all the facts which have reached us, that this New Zealand war may be, a long and disastrous, and certainly a costly, one. It is not a question of valor only, or otherwise it would soon be determined ; but such is the nature of the country—so impervious are its forests—so impassable are its swamps —so numerous are its strong places—so agile is the enemy and so simple his means of sub-sistence—-so deep and apparently unchangeable is his resentment aud revenge—that we cannot hope the war will be finished but at very great expense perhaps of life, but at all events of money. There is one thing, however, to be borne in mind, that when once New Zealand is fairly sub-

dut'd, tlie authority-of the Crown thoroughly established, and all races treated with equality and compelled to submit to one system of laws; "when the land question shall be finally determined by *hc. ext. inotion of-tribal rights; the war in New Zealand, as between two races, will probably bo over. Ihe English settlements will increase, and a country of great beauty and fertility will soon possess an internal strength to return in its resources to the British empire all that outlay which recent events, so painful but not altogether unex pected, have imposed upon it.