A.—No. 6,

14

DESPATCHES EROM THE RIGHT HON. E. CARDWELL, M.P.,

Nov. 21, No. 167. Not. 21, No. 170. Nov. 21, No. 172. Nov. 24, No. 173. Nov. 30, No. 174. Dee. G, No. 179. Dec. 7, No. 180. Dee. 9, No. 181.

has devolved upon the Mother Country; and it has been impossible for the Home Government to permit the control of the war to fall into the hands of the Colonial Ministers, where their opinions have differed from those of the Officers more directly responsible to the Crown. Questions may of course bo raised as to the application of this principle, but it is the only principle upon which Her Majesty's Government could consent to carry on a war for the security of the Colonists. The views of Ministerial authority entertained by your Advisers appear to me wholly foreign to the circumstances in which the Colony is placed ; and I cannot but feel that every consideration uf gratitude to the Molher.Country, and even of enlightened self-interest should have led them to support cordially almost any line of policy which the Governor and General might deliberately adopt, rather thau engage in a struggle for power, with its attendant controversies, delays, and changes of purpose. It must be clearly understood that Her Majesty's Government do not acknowledge the obligation to carry on war at the expense of this country till the Natives are so broken or disheartened as to render further war impossible. Nor, again, do they think it indispensable to require that any specific conditions should be made respecting the universal recognition of European law in districts in vbtch we have not, as yet, the power practically to ensure to the Natives the benefits of European institutions. The objects which Her Majesty's Government have been desirous of effecting for the Colonists are substantially these : —They have wished to carry ou the war till the rebels hid been unequivocally defeated. This has been accomplished in the Waikato and Tauranga districts, and less completely at Taranaki also. They have wished to inflict upon the rebel tribes, or some of them, an exemplary punishment in the way of forfeiture of lands, which shall deter them from any wanton aggression in future. This your instructions enable you to execute. Filially, they wish to restore a peace which shall enable Europeans and Maoris to cultivate their lands and pursue their own interests in such security as iho nature of the case admits of, and shall remove any immediate occasion of quarrel. Such a pouce might restore to the natives the advantages of European intercourse and trade, and give opportunity for that intercourse and trade to produce their invariable results in the growth of civilisation and the extinction of auomalous and irregular authority. 1 have been desirous of thus explaining the views of Her Majesty's Government, in order that no misapprehension may exist in New Zealand of the obligations admitted or of the intentions entertained by them. Before this time the decision of the General Assembly upon the questions of the Loan, the Contribution for Imperial Aid, and the modification of the Settlements Act, will have been arrived at. You will have bad the opportunity of consulting the Statesmen whose support you have looked for ; and I shall learn with pleasure that you have been enabled to form an Administration possessing the confidence of the Assembly, and acting cordially with you" Upon the Assembly itself a grave responsibility will have rested: Their decisions will in all probability affect in no slight degree the duration of the present unhappy conflict, the future peace aud welfare of the Colony, and the maintenance of satisfactory relations between the two races, and between the Colony and the Mother Country. I shall await with grett interest your report of their deliberations, the result of which will necessarily receive the very serious consideration of Her Majesty's Government. There is no disposition on our part to withdraw from the Colonial Government any portion of that control over the affairs either of the Settlers or of tho Natives, which has already been vested in them; and I shall sincerely rejoice in the termination of the wor, not only on its own account, but also because it will relieve the Home Government from duties and responsibilities which a state of war necessarily imposes upon us, but which are in their nature difficult and unsatisfactory. I have written this Despatch in concert with the Secretary of State for War. He intends to instruct General Cameron to make arrangements for the return to England of a portion of the forces now under his command ; but the specific instructions arc open to modification according to the news which he may receive by the next mail with respect to the prisoners escaped from Kawau, and to the state of affairs in the northern portion of the Island. They will bs sent to General Carr.erou by the next mail from England. I have, &c, Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., Edward Cardwell. &c. &c. &c.

No. 20. (No. 16.) Djwning Street, February 27, 1865. Sir,— I have received your Despatches of the dales and numbers noted in the margin. I observe with great satisfaction that the meeting of the Assembly had brought to a close those differences between yourself and your former Advisers which have occupied so large a portion of your late correspondence, and have bean attended with such fortunate consequences to