MR BRYCE AND HIS SLANDERER.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1694, 15 May 1883, Page 4

MR BRYCE AN D HIS SLANDERER.

"Timai'tt llcrald. u In discussing a few clays ago Mr Brycc's speech at New Plymouth, in which he vehemently denounced those who have so grossly slandered both him and the colonists generally, wo alluded to his statement that he had recently been accused of murdering native women and children. We supposed at that time thi-> extraordinary chatge had been applied to him in his capacity of Native Minister, and that it hail reference in some way or other to the operations at Parihaka. It appears, however, that this is a mistake. The accusation is mi le in the following passage in a book called "The History of New Zealand" recently publish «d by Mr Rusden, who is, if we mistake not, Clerk of Pdiliaments in Victoria :— "The literary cravers for blood were soon lo be gratified on the West and Evt Coists by events of which some were not officially lepoitcd, nor told in Mr Gudgeon's 'RiMiiiniscenses of War.' Lieutenant Biyce, who was in after yeais a Native Minister, distinguished h.mself. Some women and young children emerged from a pah to hunt pigs. Leiutcnant Bryce and Sergeant Maxwell of the Kni Iwi Cavalry dashed upon them and cut them down gleefully, book avul with caso. This exploit u.iU I c which looked for in vain in Mr Gudgeon's lecotdsa rash and unfortunate affair in which, subsequently (December 28th), Sergeant Maxwell, riding up to Titoko* warus pah, Tattrnngaika, was shot. But the treatment of the children "was not unknown. Dr Featherton, the Superintendant of the Province of Wellington, expressed his horror ; Rangihiwinue declared that he would not have joined the local forces if he had thought them capable of such nets. He earned thereby the hatred of Bryeo, who long afterwards, when Native Minister, dismissed Rangihiwinui from office. Bryce earned among the Maoris a title which will cling to him. They called him lioh>i),i tbeniniderei)." '* This roniaikablc story forms part of a highly imaginative narrative of the native war of 18GS, ;\n<l affords a striking e\ unplo of the soits* of ciitieism to which public nun in this colony are liable to be subjected. We need not say that the whole pj\s«agc sin absurd fiction. It is quite that in the defence of Wang.uiui against Titokow.mi in 18G8 Mr Bryce, then an officer in the Volunteer Ca\aliy, took an •icti\c pa it, such a part, indeed, as earned for him the giatitude of his follow settkis, aiwl maikcd as a man whom tlio public could safely depend upon in the hour of difficulty ami d.mger But no incident bearing the smvllcst. rcMHihlnutc to that f.o giaphieally dccciibi'd by Mr Rusden, e\cr took place at all, No native womon and children were killed during tlio '.Uiolo of those operations, and anyone who lcmcmbvrs the circumstances of that campaign, if we may call it so, will discern at agluicctbc ludicrous absurdity of depicting native women and children, during a deadly co.iflsct like that, " emorging trom a pah to hunt pigs. " As for the acscrtion that Dr Featherston esprosscd his horror at the deed attributed to Lieutenant Bryce and Sergcaat Maxwell, and that Rangihiwinui protested against it, these aie details thrown in to give the pt unary fabrication an air of truth. Raiigihiwinuiis the Wanganui chief who is better known by the name of Major Kemp. During the war of 1868, he commanded a force of friendly natives and rendered sign il service, fighting, as it weie, side by ride with Mr Btycc, and no differences, that we ever heard of, arose between them. As for the notion that Mr Bryce, when ho became Native Minister, afterwards dismissed Kemp on account of an cxprission used by him then, it is so preposterously foolish that we can only admin? the ingenuity of invention that it dcsplnys. Kemp was dismissed from thu public services, as our readers will probably recollect, some two 01 three years ago on account of his violent conduct in connection with the Mnrimotu du-pito, ]10, a Major of Militia and a iSntivo Magistrate, behaved more like a, lunatic than a sane imin, tluciitncd the life of JCiiropoaiid, took foiciblc possession of propoity, anddcrkd all law tul autboiity. Tlio Governmenfc did all they could bring him to reason, they give him chance after change to letiace Ins steps and letiirn mtD their good ginces But Kemp w.is completely ott hio licid, and lie Mould do nothing but bluster and bounce and use nioro .violent and moie lawless language than before. The mischief that he was doing by this unruly conduct was greatly increased by the influence which his military rank and official position gave him ; and the Government, therefore, funding relnonstiancesaiid persuasions equally vain, dismissed him summarily from all his appointments. This had the desired effect, and since then Kemp has given no cause for complaint. The action of the Government with legard to him had not the remotest bcaiing on anything thnt had pieviously occuied bqtween him and Mr Biyce j for pieciscly the same action must have been takon if aiiy other person than Mr Bryce had been Native Ministcri But it wiltpiobably be asked, who is Mr Rusden, and w hat conceivable object cm he have in writing and publishing such atiocioiH falsehoods about public men in Now Zealand of whom he knows nothing, and with whom ho cannot have any quancl ? Well, we believe thuanfchor of tlio " History of New Zealand "' is meii-ly a weak-mind'eci elderly persons, who ba\ ing tiavelled for a few weeks or mouths iv this colony, consul eied. himself a.i unimpeachable authority on its afFaiis. Such men are of course gullible to the last degree. They know nothing, and observe nothing, and understand nothing ; but aic quite piepaied to believe anything and to make a note of it, i provided only tint it is yenaationnl and in haiinoiiy with their preconceived notions. As it happened, Mrr Rusden had made up his mind that the NewZealand Government had treated the Maoris with frightful barbarity, and he made it his business, therefore, to get hold of as many stories in support of that thcoiy as possible. He naturally fell into the hiinds of those who bad an object of their own in circulating such stories, and the result is to be seen in the startling fictions which appear in the pages of his book. The man is probably sincere in his own belief in what he states there ; but be is none the less culpable on that account. No man has a right to publish statements as facts, the falsehood of which he could easily ascertained for himself. When Mr Brjce denounced the author of this eminent work ot history a.s "a liar, a scoundrel and a coward," nevertheless, his epithets applied lather to those who furnished him with material than to their dupe. Who those aie, remains to be disclosed. We have a pretty good inkling, however, of tlie original author of this story about Dr Featherston , and Rangihiwinui. These are Wanganui items, if we are not much mistaken ; and they come from the same fertile that devised a brochure which J was published there during the Parihaka ' trouble, in which means were suggested to Te Whiti and his natives for advancing on the town and gaining possession of it without the colonial forces or the settlers having a chance to resist them. We wish Mr Bryce would look into this matter and try to bring the whole truth, to liglit^ It is not a bit of use proceeding against tbe author of the "History of New Zealand." Let him try to unearth the rascals who supplied that writer with falsehood ready made.

A'QmET and witty man combines the -qualities of two kinds of champagne — still and sparkling. * ' "-This is a grate prospect." as the prisoner said when he peeped out of ■ his cell' window. ( " Stiruixg times," as the 1 a3ty-p«J-ding said to the spoon. i ,>' > Joefialesa hypocrite. It shows ,« • > Self- love \t not a fault of Joe's " v The- only way tq tell the' naked trutl? ia to jaii'Q ,tUe pjvi'o faotg, " ' ;