G.—No. 2.

[translation.] To Mr. FitzGeuald : 'JO THE GrEXEUAL ASSEMBLY OP NEW ZEALAND : Welßngton, 24ft July, 18GG. 0 Friends, my friends who are dwelling at Wellington —whether you be Maoris or Pakehas—be not wondering in your minds as to the cause of my coming here —be not anxious as to what it might be—the chief cause is the great news of the doings of the Parliament which has come to my place which found me dwelling at my place " Great Darkness " and " Sorrow-of-heart," the report of its doings reached me, and said, " William there is a great power at Wellington; although a matter be of exceeding great weight it can be lifted by that power —though it be ever so fast (bound) it can loose it." That name, therefore, became to me a subject of hope —vain hope —" how could it be accomplished in spite of the difficulties of Turangatao, which lay heaped up before him." Until the time your parent, the Governor, saw me —no sooner had he expressed his wish that I should come hither than both my soul and body rejoiced within me. No thought was taken of tribe, wives or children, by reason of tho joy of heart. The joy of my heart arose from the fact that I was coining into your presence —there to give utterance to those matters which were causes of so much anxiety to me every day. 1. That some measure be devised to straighten those curvatures, by reason of which wo all fell into error. 2. For Waikato to be iriven back to me. One matter only shall occupy my attention throughout this appeal, that is, to recount the eases in which we have fallen into error. (1.) The case of To Waitere. —All the people, and I myself, said " lhaia had committed a murder," and then it was said that " the blood of Tc Waitere, should be upon his head whose hand had shed it." But he was supported by the many thousands of England ; because of which it was not possible to bring the offender to justice —that was the origin of the evil (in the first instance.) Then commenced your evil name (with us) and our evil name with you —and so on up to tho time of the King movement—then grew rapidly* that tree which was planted by lhaia —it bore fruit —evil fruit —when I saw that the fruit was evil, I sent and cut it down. After that tree had fallen then it was said, that out of the King movement originated the proceedings of that man, and thus it was that the fruit which had been produced was evil fruit. Then I compared the case in point with Divine precepts —but I saw not in what way it was wrong. Then I compared it with the customs of men, but saw no fault, for I went so far as to mention the case of the Queen, of Nicholas, of Buonaparte, and of Pomare also. I also looked into the word of the Lord in the book of Moses, and compared the case with everything bearing upon it. After that, I sat down and pondered the same (in my heart) and so on up to the time of the visit of our parent Grey to Taupiri. We then went with the gathering to see him. There were two words at that meeting which were engraved by the Kunanga on the tablets of their memory. 1. My word to him (the Governor) proposing that I go first to Tataraimaka. But he (the Governor) altogether opposed it, and it was not again referred to. After that Heta Tauranga rose up and said, " O Father, the Governor, my kingdom will not be put an end to by you if we still work on together in a tranquilf manner, but if you fight then will it be put a stop to." Then the Governor replied, " 0 son, I will not smite you with the sword, but I will smite you with my good works." TJpon this that young man turned to the congregated Maoris, and said—" Have you heard the word of your parent r " The meeting replied, " Yes." There were many other words—but these were the matters we felt most anxious about. After this the letter of Eewi was sent—the Governor arrived alone (at Taranaki). That letter had already got there, and my letter also had got there at that time — when it arrived there Taranaki and the whole of the Atiawa saw it, and when it was read they burst into fits of uncontrolled laughter—the only return to me was shame. No sooner had the Governor got there with his Pakehas than death fell upon them. I remained at home, and thought perhaps it was owing to the action taken by Eewi and Te Herowini that this evil has taken place so suddenly —then my thoughts reverted to what I had said to Wiremu Kingi, that the cases of the Waitara be investigated—to which he did not consent. I then again proposed that Tataraimaka be given up to the Governor, but this was not consented to at all by any of the Taranaki tribes. Because of this, I said this fault is not Eewi's and Te Hcrewini's—if their letters had never reached Taranaki still those Pakehas would not have been spared—inasmuch as their hands had not relaxed their hold upon Tataraimaka; that was why I felt so anxious about Taranaki at that time. At the time of the return of the Governor and his soldiers, I was still endeavouring to find out about the death of the Pakehas at Taranaki—whether it was right or wrong that they should die. I came to the conclusion that it was right they should die —that it was not murder, for they themselves were carrying guns, so it occurred to my mind that they were not unwarned, and that they were aware that they would meet with Maoris. Now, 0 friends, this is where I find fault with carrying this war into the Waikato. It was not brought there upon any clear understanding, in which case you and we could have sought out some good reason for fighting betwixt ourselves ; but on the other hand it was done in darkness, and its manner of conduct was dark likewise, and it was impossible to restrain the turbulent spirits,! and it became a pain gnawing the vitals in consequence of us all (you and us) having rushed headlong to death—that is to say, into error. For I had said in my own mind, Leave the race that is cowardly to be cowardly still, and the race that is wise to do that which is just, so that the life of the man who should live and the death of the man that should die may be manifested. But it so happened that they both rushed headlong to evil, and fell both of them into the ditch. Had our war been left, as I proposed, to be carried on by word of mouth only, then would it have been found out how groundless the alleged grievance of the Maori or Pakeha was. Behold, I was not apathetic in performing that which was good, inasmuch as my word went forth for those which were defenceless to remove to Auckland, lest they suffer by reason of the laws of New * Great. f " But by fighting only will it be put an end to." J Desperately bent on accomplishing mischief. 2

5

PETITION OF WI TAMIHANA TE WAHAUOA.