The Express.
London, England, 1863-09-14 00:00:00

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

The latest intelligence from New Zealand is un-
mistakably warlike. Gen. Cameron has been per-
mitted to assume the absolute direction of military
affairs. The large force now under the command of
the general has been recently strengthened by the op-
portune arrival of the 18th Royal Irish at Auckland,
and there wars at the last dates (July 14), a body of
not leas than five or six thousand regular British
infantry, besides the volunteers and militiamen,
available for the protection of the Queen's interests
in the provinces of Auckland and Taranaki. By
the latest advises, the object of General Cameron
appears to be to constitute the neighbourhood of
Auckland the centre of the forthcoming campaign.
Men and guns have been concentrated at the north-
ern capital from all parts of the island. The pro-
vince of Taranaki itself it is proposed temporarily
to abandon, with the exception of the towns of
New Plymouth and Wanganui, and the fortified
position at Tataraimaka.
The news, although of a somewhat contradictory
character as to the movements of the insurgents,
seems to leave little room for doubt that another
great rising of the natives is to take place, under
the leadership of the powerful and warlike tribe of
the Waikatoe.
The Melbourne Argus says :

Should the Waikato' take the field, it is almost certain
that they will be joined by nearly all of the tribes south,
east, and west, from Taranaki to Hawke's Bay. The
Waikato. themselves are said to be able to mus-
ter five thousand fighting men, but this is cer-
tainly an exaggeration. This number would more nearly
represent the total of the whole armed force which is likely,
at any one point, to encounter General Cameron. The
Waikatos themselves are certainly the most formidable
enemy we have to meet in New Zealand, and should they
be induced to ally themselves to the cause of the Maori
King, they will make this the greatest of our New Zealand
wars. By their important strategic position, on the
mad between Auckland and New Plymouth, and
surrounded as they are by deep impenetra-
ble forest', and protected by every variety of
natural barrier, they will be able to exercise • most
potent iotluence on the character of the war, and will
certainly give General Cameron more trouble than any of
his predecessors on the Maori war-pith have yet experi-
enced. The report of a contemplated attack by the insur-
gent& on the town of Auckland itself is most likely a
canard, the product of some Maori Seward or
Kingite Hooker. The singular aptitude for military
strategy which marks the Maori genius is not likely to
betray the insurgents into a policy so foolish as to undertake
any such enterprise as this, against a large town strongly
garrisooed by European troops. Auckland, it is true, is
almost defenceleaa on the land side ; but the wide extent of
open country immediately surrounding it on the south and
west is as good • security to the citizens as any ramparts
could be. No native army is likely to ventare into en
encounter with British soldiers in the open field; and
it is only British generals who commit the blunder of fight.
lug the enemy after his own fashion. The instugeets, if
they mean serious war, will probably rest content with that
sort of fighting in which their genius is best displayed, and
not attempt to look for General Cameron, but force General
Cameron to look for them. The country of the Waikato
abounds in positions almost impregnable to regular troops,
which can be defended with little or no loss on the
part of the natives. The mere shelling of half-
a-dozen paha, as has been shown in former
campaigns, has little effect in influencing the result of the
war; for, according to the Maori tactics, the pats are merely
held as places of cover from which the advancing enemy may
be securely annoyed—not as fortresses, to be defended for
their own sake. The Wailudos, by pursuing their tra-
ditional system of warfare, may cootrive to prolong the
struggle to an almost indefinite period—they can only he
decisively conquered when they either venture to attack
us in the open field, or are attacked themselves by men who
are able to accommodate themselves to the Maori mode of
fighting. In General Cameron the colonists are happy in
possessing the services of • man of ability and spirit enough
to rates*e himself from the toils which usually beset the
routine warriors from the Hone Guards in their enter-
prises against savages. Hitherto be has proved himself
superior to that fatal weakness which site, like the old
man of the sea, upon the shoulders of almost every modern
British general on such oeouions. He is not afraid
of the dread demon "Responsibility," and if only
Sir George Grey is wise enough to know his
place, there is no doubt that, in the hands of Gene-
ral Cameron, the supremacy of the British arms will
be honourably maintaiiied. Should the war, of which the
first certain sigma am how announced, espied into a general
struggle of nose, the colonists of Auckland and Taranaki
will have ample opportunity of appreciating the 11
magnanimity of the imperial government in giving
up to them the sole control of native affairs.
Hitherto, es our readers are aware, the home
goverment has kept in its own hands, by an express reserve-