The Express.
London, England, 1864-12-16 00:00:00

HETTA!CNIA

Tim ETIIII4II. DICK WHITTINGTON; AM) HIS CAT.
—Stridny by the Great Vance. the Little Steele, Nldlle.
D-ott, and the celebrated D'Aubans.—And THE )10THU.'S
DYING CHILD NI S. Lana.—Commence at hall-past G.

MGR WATER AT LONDON:RRIDOL

7)11.4 DAT Morning. :Th. 4.0 n Aftenrion, 4h. Nn.
°ruing, 411. 26m 41.fterioou, CL Aim.

LUNDOS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16.

Ouit affairs in New Zealand are not prospering
as we could wish, and the Colonists make the
same complaint of theirs ; but, on the whole, we
do not see that the state of things is materially
much worse than it was reported to be by the
last mail. Two months ago it seemed as if events
were preparing the conclusion of the war. There
was, however, no " illusory announcement " of a
general peace, as some are now saying, but a truthful
account of a limited pacification, upon which we
were all glad to found a hope that did not survive
the next intelligence from the colony. Since then a
couple of hundred Maori prisoners have escaped and
established themselves a few miles from Auckland,
where they may give trouble, and besides that, the
Colonial Ministry have fallen out with Governor
Sir G I;REV. Looking back on the past year,
we cannot pretend that either of these events is so
serious as to justify the almost melancholy lan-
guage in which some of our contemporaries have
referred to it. In such a war as this one Maori
" pah" more or less is not so terrible a matter. It
is said that the escaped natives have taken up an
almost inaccessible position. But all the Maori
positions hare hitherto been similarly described,
and this one will be taken like the rest unless pre-
viously evacuated.

The most disagreeable part of the news is that
which relates to the dissensions between Sir GEORGE
GREY and his advisers : indeed it is be-
cause of these that the eslspe of a hand-
ful of savages has been made so much of
in the colony. But this disagreement was an event
to be foreseen, and, in justice to an able and upright
servant of his country, its true cause should be well
examined and considered. Sir GEORGE GREY is
opposed and abandoned by his ministers, not for
any fault of his, but for the sake of the policy
which he represents, a policy in accordance with
the instructions of the Imperial Government and
with the opinion of the public in this country.
The malcontents cannot reach the British Par-
liament or the British people, so they turn upon
the Governor, who is charged with the duty of
carrying out the views of both. It is the misfortune,
or, as some may think, the honourable distinction
of Sir GEORGE GREY that he is the organ of the
resolution of the Imperial Government to abridge
the magnificent scheme of spoliation on which the
colonists had set their heart. Those enterprising
settlers, judging, no doubt rightly, that they would
never again see a British force of 10,000 men in
their islands available against their native neigh-
bours, determined to do the work effectually once
for all, an prepared their confiscation bills on the
grandest and most comprehensive scale. Sir G EORG E
GREY, however, was instructed from home to take
care that nothing should be done in this direction
inconsistent with the honour of the country, and
the Colonists see in this resolution the loss of
a splendid opportunity. They are amazed and in-
dignant; they cannot understand the squeamishness
of the people at home, who, they say, probably
with truth, if iu New Zealand, would wish to do
just as they are doing. The debates in the House
of Commons Est July are especially distasteful to
them. They compl►in that they are misrepre-
sented as being greedy of war, and as prolonging
hostilities for the sake of the large expenditure
which the presence of an active military force in-
volves. We do not think, however, that many
Englishmen believe this of them. In Now Zea-
land as elsewhere war involves the mass of the po-
pulation in privation and exposes them to danger.
We feel confident that the colonists would gladly
attain their ends without these disadvantages.
If they could succeed in getting the native land
for an almost metaphysical equivalent, by legisla-
tion, by judicial sentences, or any other pacific
means, they would infinitely prefer to do so. If
not, they are ready, as their conduct shows,
to encounter the evils of war, dire as they
are, in order to attain their cherished aim.
With their newspapers, their legislative acts,
and the speeches in their Parliament before us,
we are in no danger of misrepresenting their senti-
ments on this point. They affirm that the war is
an Imperial war, undertaken to maintain the
QUEEN s authority. But this is a quibble. The
QUEEN., authority is of course committed more or
less to any legislative and administrative act in the
province, but it does not follow that, because the
colonists have entwined their land schemes about
all the acts of the local government respecting the
natives, the empire is to lend its aid whenever they
push their savage neighbours harder than the latter
will bear.

It is said that difficult constitutional questions
will arise out of the disagreement between the
colonists and the QrreN's representative. It is
possible ; but tho relation out of which the present
difficulty springs is not exactly constitutional. The

THE ,

Imperial Parliament has given New 7.4144 the
right of self-government, but there is nothing in
the colonial constitution which enables the people
to call for the use of a large British army. Let
them manage their own affairs with prudence, and
gain upon the population and territory of the
natives with the weapons of superior skill and
intelligence, and people in this country will not
pry too curiously into their dealings with those
interesting savages. They may then enjoy "re-
" sponsible government," and make and unmake
ministries at their pleasure. But if they want to
borrow our strength they must submit, like all
borrowers, to the terms of the lenders. They stand
in the same relation to us as Italy did to France in
1859, and must permit the superior Power to have
the chief direction of affairs. They would have to
do so if they were independent, and we were simply
their allies ; and the fact that they are subject to
the British Crown cannot give them a higher right
than they could have if New Zealand were a Sovereign
State. Sir GEORGE GREY is more than their local
chief magistrate—he is the representative of the
Power which has sent out, and which can recal,
the army under General CAmEaos, and the coun-
try will look to Mr. CARDWELL and his colleagues
to maintain his authority in that capacity.