The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-12 00:00:00

VIE NEW ZEALAND WAR,

(From the Times Correspondent.)
MELBOURNE, Nov. 20, 1863.
The Maories have effected their retreat from
Mere-Mere apparently without the loss of a man.
They escaped by " the back door," as they had done
on other occasions, and all the General's precau-
tions to prevent this have proved abortive, no doubt
to his great mortification ; but, as it appears to me,
owing to a circumstance—the peculiar condition of
the river, which no one could have anticipated or
provided against. For some time past the General,
while concentrating all his disposable forces before
the great stronghold of the natives at Mere-Mere,
was understood to be waiting for the completion of
the repairs to the new iron steam gunboat lately
built at Sydney, and since called the Pioneer.
Towards.,the end of October, after a short delay by
rough weather, she steamed out of Manukau, and
entered the Waikato Heeds, ascending the river,
and taking her position in front. This was effected
not without some fire from the natives, and the few
guns in their possession were worked in such a way
as to generate the suspicion that they were directed
or that the Maories had been instructed by Euro-
peans. Knowing the aptitude of the Maories as I
do, I do not think the mere fact of their skill with
great guns warrants the suspicion that they are
aided by Pakehas, They have had plenty of oppor-
tunity, any time these 20 years ,of observing the
firing of battery guns in Auckland ; and, having
obtained a few guns, they would soon learn to re-
duce their observation of birthday saluting to ball
practice. It is said in one of the accounts that they
also fired a rocket with precision, and the only sur-
prise I feel is as to where they obtained the round
shot and where the rocket. However, neither
round shot nor rocket made any impression on the
ironclad Pioneer. Now, as to the operations.
About 18 or 20 miles higher up the Waikato than
Mere-Mere is another native position called Rangi-•
riri (literally, angry heavens or angry sky). As our
troops and gunboats had the entire command of the
river, and also of the lower part of the small stream
Marama-run, which flows into the Waikato below
-Mere-Mere, it was anticipated that the natives
would rely on this way of retreat, as a native path,
and perhaps more than one, leads from Mere-Mere,
to Rangiriri, the more especially as the swampy
ground in the rear (east) of Mere Mere was believed
to be impracticable even to Maories. Accordingly,
on Saturday, the 31st of October, the Pioneer, with
600 troops on board, was ordered up the river about
nine miles higher than Mere Mere, where the troops
were to land, and prevent the possibility of retreat
in that direction. The natives must have perceived
and appreciated the effect of this movement, for on
Sunday morning, before daylight, they made a fierce
attack on the troops before they were well in posi-
tion. Firing continued to be exchanged for about
two hours, but with very little result, except that
the Maories were driven off, and retired upon Mere
Mere, while the troops retained their position, and
thus all hope of a successful retreat upon Rangiriri
was taken from the natives. The troops thus landed
from the Pioneer were to face the north and advance
towards Mere Mere on the Sunday, so as to be ready
to join in the assault on the Monday morning. The
plan of attack was admirable. How was it defeated?
How was it that, after so much preparation, a door
for escape was left open to the Maories, of which they
so effectually availed themselves as to get clear off
without, so far as have yet learnt, the loss of a
man ? The swampy ground north, north-east, and
east of Mere Mere was considered impracticable,
and so, perhaps, it was under ordinary circum-
stances; but the extraordinary event which seems
to have baffled calculation was the swollen state of
the rivers and swamps, which made the latter prac-
ticable for canoes. I am loth even to suggest that
this was a blot in the General's tactics, which the
natives hit, and I have no doubt that when his
further despatches are published we shall learn why
that contingency—namely, the flooding of swampy
ground—was not anticipated and provided against.
One account states that the natives " escaped across
the swamps in 18 canoes, that they were seen and
watched, but that the distance was too great to fol-
low." I fancy, however, that it was the nature of
the country and the want of shallow boats capable
of taking the swamp which proved the source of
safety to the natives and disappointment to the
troops. The Naval Brigade took possession of Mere-
Mere with the three pieces of cannon, but not a
Maori was there. The place is of great importance,
and it is difficult to conceive how the natives can
hold any part of the country between Mere-Mere
and Rangiriri. Indeed, it is said they have sepa-
rated and gone eastward. Other accounts say they
have "dispersed all over the county." The truth
simply is they are gone. and no one can as yet guess
where they will be next be discovered. T.ne proba-
bility is that we shall have a total change in the cha-
racter of the war. Repeated and rapid attacks by
small parties of natives is the coarse in which they
have best succeeded. They mast knew by this time
that they never can hold a pah against our imple-
ments of warfare. It has always appeared to me
that the natives over-estimated the value of the guns
which they possessed, and that was the cause of
their delusion as to the possibility of holding
Mere-Mere. The Pioneer undeceived them. The
General's tactics must now be in some degree
modified by those of the enemy. His "Flying
Column" and " Forest Rangers" will most
likely be augmented, and when we consider
the native difficulty about their commissariat, and
the acquisition of skill in bush warfare by our troops,
it seems impossible for the natives to sustain the
war for any length of time. They must suffer from
the diseases incidental to scarcity and bad food to a
far greater extent than from our weapons, and
therefore it is to be lamented that Mere-Mere was
not captured after some resistance with such marked
superiority on our side as to reduce them to sub-

and confidence in the arrangements, and Dr. Fea-
therstone, the peace man par excellence of that day,
the superintendent of the province of Wellington,
one of the most able and honest men in the colony,
by whose influence with the Nga-li-awa the peace
of the South was maintained during the Taranaki
war, also expressed his confidence in the new Mini-
stry. These sentiments are generally echoed by
the press.

JOURNALS. mercy, exercised upon the recommendation of tibia
Home Secretary, could save him. But from tbiaa
statute it would appear that a prisoner under so"
tense of death can at any time be reprieved by mere •
force of a certificate of his insanity, drawn up by
' two physicians or surgeons of any character or
opinions whatever, attested by two justices of the
peace of any idiosyncrasies or intelligence whateate:'
Now, as it has been made abundantly evident, in tl
course of the discussion on this case, that medical
men of high standing may be found who will certify
to the existence of insanity in almost any conceiv-
able case of murder, and who, indeed, would b°
more likely to give the required certificate the worn
the murder was, it is certain that the medical secu-
rity for the execution of justice in the spirit •of
th
law is worth absolutely nothing. Nor do we see,
that matters are made much better by the required
addition of the signatures of two justices of the peace,.
It would be hard if out of the magistrates of a
county town two could not be induced, either by $
clever lawyer, or by the medical men themselves, or
by some crotchet or sentiment, or by some poplllo
cry, to endorse such a certificate. We do not see,
for our part, why anybody need be hanged wit°
this loophole to escape by. At all events we are
certain that any clever rascal, by the help uf
clever lawyer, might take advantage of the Ae",
It is scarcely possible to exhaust the anomaly
such a state of things. Great complaint has bees
very properly made of the irresponsible and uncer
rain character of the Commissions which might be
appointed by the Home Secretary to inquire jut° •
such cases as these. But the Home Secretary is, 5"
all events, responsible for acting on the report of 01
Commissions he appoints, and, unsetisfactorY 11
any secret tribunal of the sort must necessarily be'
the persons appointed by him can hardly be other'
wise than independent and competent authorities'
But the tribunal to which this Act gives an autba'
rity to revise the sentence is fortuitous, and maybe
either ignorant or prejudiced, or both, and its acts
removes all responsibility from any one. It 01
felt to be sufficiently unsatisfactory that an Ore'
stricted and unregulated power of reversing tb,,
solemn sentence of a court of law should rest eve,'
in a responsible Minister of the Crown ; but it Is,
amazing to find this power placed in the hands °I!
any two crotchetty medical men and any two 115
informed or prejudiced justices of the peace. Di; e,
been found dangerous that the authority of a jog;
and jury should be set aside by a Minister aeti°
under the authority of the Queen ; but here the o,e;
thority, not only of judge and jury, but of oa
Queen herself, is set aside by two magistrates
two medical practitioners. The Act is said to ha,co,
been hastily and inconsiderately passed in 18i,
and it cannot be doubted that such a fligrant an
maly will be at once rectified. It is to be hoped, foel
that, the attention of Parliament being thus iniPe°;
tively drawn to the question, it will take the opP°,6
tunity to law down some satisfactory law for I',
decision of similar cases for the future. Unwelcool:6'
however, as such a revelation of the state of t",,
law may be, it is satisfactory that it removes eve%
shadow of ground for the unpleasant imputatie/1,0
on the administration of justice which have beat)
loudly and unhesitatingly expressed. The vi4l°;,,
point before Sir George Grey, the Lunacy Corn b 0
sioners, and the self-constituted Commission ,d
been entirely mistaken. The matter has been erg the
as though they were upsetting the decision of ,t
jury as to whether the prisoner was insane or
°p
when he committed the act, whereas the 60
question was whether he is insane or net of
the present moment. Neither the truth 'l3
the verdict nor the justice of the sentence
in any way impugned. The sole questierliv
whether the sentence shall be executed. If ,e
prisoner, from whatever cause, is now
it is acknowledged that it would be an act of tool
humanity to put him to death. It will be seeut
the
from Sir George Grey's letter, that precisely eie
same question of the sanity of a prisoner after °Oll
tence was raised in the case of a poor man tried °0•1
the year before Townley, in precisely the same 't?
by the intervention of the Judge, and that the I,:of
soner was sent to an asylum in just the same or
that Townley has been. The accusations of Papti
alit y which have been made in the matter are id,
we think, proved to be uncalled for and unjust tV
At all events, now that it is made evident that bl
miscarriage of justice, if there be any, is charge:V
entirely on an absurd Act of Parliament, it W/o'
hoped that the public will reserve their diesel!)
tion for that strange piece of legislation, and
no time will be lost in altering it.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

---------••-------.

COLCHESTER,—JAY. 9.
There was a fair supply of wheat at our market
with a moderate business doing, and prices as follow
Wheat, white ..44s 50s Beans, Mazagan
red ...40s 44s middle &stnall.`:4 36')
.
Barley
Oats

GLOUCESTER—JAN. 9.
There was a good show of English wheat to-- 3;
ple
the farmers, which met a fair sale at an advance o'rices,'
qr. Foreign wheat dull, with no advance on die FA" . r
last week. Oats, barley, beans, and peas were eu
still unaltered in value.

CHELMSFORD—JAN. 8. e sl3.''';
At this corn exchange to-day there was a moderate pri
of wheat, which met a tolerably activ• trade, best „tor
of last market advanced is per quarter for the l' 4
Spring corn unaltered. d•
56s 0
Wheat, old white 30s 47s Yeas, partridge- • • '39 0
new 44s 59s White .......... ~90 ,g
old red 34s 40s Boiling ........ ",30 `',l
new 38s 42s Dun........... ::„.0 iv
Barley 27s 37s Ditto new ...... 30 A
Chevalier ..288 39s Beans, Tick, .)1d • ',9 01
Grinding .... 22s 31s neW..354 /1
Malt....
Chevalier . 64s 69s 310..300
Oats 2os 28s Mazagan ..... • '

KIRKCALDY GRAIN—JAN. 9. et
ucip ,
We had good supplies of barl6y, oats, and vi" to,
market to-day. Sales were ready, and prices 10
qr up.
Wheat. Barley. Oats.
First .... 3os Od 26s 6d l7s Od
Second .. 37s Od 28s Od 18s Od
Third ....395.0d I 30s Od 193 6d

CAL MARKET.
feet'
Macs of Coal per O
Ton at the close of the ra- I'
s. d.
Hastings Hartley ....18 9 Walls Ll•4'
~. 0,
Eden Mein ...21 0 Ha5we11...... . . .•'9
~ 0
Hetton ..........
Cas801) ........ .....

Walls End.

Tu.nstall
Ships at mark(

:t, 25:; sold, 25.

Foreign Mail Packet List.

MAILS DUE. Pl 3. 13
Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton.....°ll/,: 3,,
via Marseilles ....... few.
brazil and Cape Verde, by British packet. ...•'' p.
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena.' Ja'''bChina, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampt°v:pa'
via Marseilles

Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton ...............••' jall'i,
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southamptorloppil•
•—• via Marseilles..•'lo4'
India (Bombay), via Southampton ............ to. 5,
_,r
via Marseilles ''•,l),
01,
Portugal
Niai,:a, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton..... • pp ,711,
via Marseilles ...... •;jl)l3'
Newfoundland ....
Oporto and Vigo ..
U. S. and British N. America, by Brit..
pac
ackket.. ".
...P 0
--- by U.S pet•ot,l 0
by Canadian pacic° fel). it
W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe ........ PO' fr
Bahamas, via New York ..... " jai,' 6,
. ... , ,
Mexico
All parts of West Indies, including Chili, l'eriliAPlJ.
California. and British Columbia.. ..........
---'

Births. ~r CAC
HALL—On the 10th inst., at Sheerness the wifelo clo- ,
W. King Hall, C. 8., H.M.S. Cumberland, v. tV
ter. f trec
t' '
4LicffitELD—On the 11th inst., at 35, Di'ver. f 0"
Countess of Lichfiel, of son. O
STONE.—On the 10th inst, aat 114, Piccadilly' the fiel4
John Stone, Esq., of a daughter. ejf,
TIDY.—On the 9th inst., the wife of IL Edgar •ll ' 1
of Clifford's-inn, solicitor, of a son.
Marriages. ,B°'l
Georree,l
ANDERSON—POWER.—On the 9th inst., at St. 05,1 ti
Isl artyr, De Lancy Radcliffe Andersn, iscl,;;), I'l'
Royals, youngest son of the late Colonel 11..,e-,,,0. V ,
son, to Adela Jane, second daughter of VT. Ken
i'r
0° 0
Esq., M.D., of Queen-square, W.C.
at 5 f Oki
SIMPSON—SIIEFPARD.—On the sth inst., -tc"lo4
Kiluhurst, Yorkshire, the Rev. J. Curwea wo'
Frances Maria, younger daughter of Samuel '''
Esq., of Taunton and London. frill
Deaths. 100 ,/
ALLEN.—On the 10th inst., at Herne-ill9 - 7
Esq., aged SO. Agicl PI
BIELEFELD —On the 10th inst, Charles
Charles
feld, of Wellington-street, Strand,. aged 60. ilo 1
DONNE.—On the 7th inst., at Weston Viortige' pr
Benj. Donne, aged 67. ‘,.13° 4,
Micum—On the 10th inst., at 31, Alfred-Pl°'' olf
square, Nathl. Machin, Req., aged 55. a, til4f
OSBORNE.—On the 9th inst. at at Walham-grci.c,, Sit ,11
Elizabeth, Lady Osborne, • widow of the 15-
ofo f
Osborne, That., of Beechwood, TipperarY.l.lo..roclt
PAsCALL.—On the 10th inst., at rentonyi 11
Pascall, Esq., aged 73.
POLLARD.—On the 10th inst., at Crescent lf 9„IlSef °
'piel'io
ton, Robert Blew" pollard, Esq., late of 13"
•tf,
Brompton, aged Si.

,tr lag;
London : Frit,Zed and Fttblished by WILLIA---njfice '4:01
of No. 112, Strand, nil/LW, at Tut Sta 4 'the CO
Strand, In the Freelnet of the lavoy. the
.—Tuefiday, January 12, 1861.