The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The official despatches which appeared
in last night's Gazette reduce the recent pacification
in New Zealand to somewhat more moderate pro-
portions than we had been led to hope. The sub•
mission was not made by all the natives, but by
those of Tauranga, and it will be noticed that in his
first letter Col. Cameron cautions the Secretary of
State against concluding that the general pacifica•
tion of the country will necessarily follow. There
is a great want of adhesion among the many tribes
composing the native population, and the pacifica-
tion of the other tribes is, at all events, an indepen-
dent event, and had yet to take place at the date of
the despatches. At the same time we may draw
the best' auguries from the first stop towards
peace. Tauranga is an important situation, and
the tribes around it were powerful and danger.
ous. Their late leader, Rawiri, was a man
who had inflicted upon us the disastrous repulse at
Gate Pa, in the neighbourhood of Tauranga was
the scene of the sharp engagement in which Col.
Greer was recently so successful. It will be re-
' membered that the same Rawiri, about the end of
June, sent a challenge to Colonel Greer, and in con-
junction with W. Thompson organised an attack
upon the camp at Tauranga. The attempt, however,
was completely foiled, Colonel Greer attacked the
native force, and defeated them with heavy loss,
Rawiri himself being killed, while W. Thompson,
upon the defeat of his allies, abstained from his
intended attack. This was on the 21st of June,
and Colonel Cameron's despatch informs us that
he undertook no active operations during July.
It is all the more satisfactory that it was at the
end of this interval of truce that these Eastern
tribes should have offered their submission. We
may reasonably conclude that they have done so
upon mature reflection, se that the peace, once
made, will not be so likely to be again disturbed.,
The submission was not offered in any immediate
despair produced by the defeat at Tauranga, but
after nearly a month's rest. The situation of Tan-
range, too, is of importance, for the plan of opera-
tions, after the success of the 21st of June, was to
place troops at Tauranga, and in the heart of the
Waikato country to the west of it, and thus to cut
off the natives from their customary sources of sup-
ply. If therefore we are now surrounded by friendly
natives at Tauranga, half of this plan will be carried
out without opposition. We are not informed
whether, as Col. Cameron anticipated, W. Thomp.
son and his followers have also submitted. The
history of the matter is very short. The New Zea-
land savages are at least in advance of the diplo-
matists at Vienna in the directness and shortness of
their negotiations. On the 25th of July 133 natives,
with some chiefs of rank, came into the camp
and laid down their arms, signing a declaration of
allegiance to the Queen, and leaving their lands at
the disposal of the Governor and the General. Col.
Greer very wisely and properly made certain that
they each understood what they were doing by
having the document they were to sign read over
twice to them. Only two chiefs, with from ten to
twenty followers between them, abstained from this
act of submission. The proceedings were, at there,.
quest of the natives, further ratified by their meet-
ing the Governor and General Cameron a few days
afterwards. The interview passed off very satisfac-
torily, the natives expressing themselves, we are
told, perfectly satisfied with the terms of peace
granted them. To judge by Col. Greer's despatch this
happy agreement was not made without obstruction
from two civilians, but this was the only difficulty in
the matter. It will be a significant fact if it should
appear that the only obstacle to peace was raised
by two of the colonial authorities. The satisfactory
result is that " hostilities are now at an end in
this part of the colony," not again, we may hope, to
be resumed by us. The terms granted to the natives
in Sir George Grey's address appear to fulfil the
conditions which we urged the other day. The lands
of these natives are all now the property of the
Crown, and the Governor therefore can dispose of
them as he sees fit. It was obviously necessary to
confiscate some of them as a punishment for the re•
bellion, and, at the same time, to give the natives
sufficient for their support and contentment. The
natives were also naturally anxious that this should
be done at once. In fact, with their notions about
land, they would feel themselves homeless until
they had received some settlement. Sir George
Grey, therefore, assigns them settlements at once,
which ho promises shall as far as possible be in
such localities as they shall choose, and these will be
secured by Crown grants to them and to their chil.
dren. Meanwhile steps will be taken to ascer-
tain the boundaries of the land hitherto possessed
by the tribes, and it will then be finally decided how
these are to be dealt with. Sir George Grey promises,
however, that the amount confiscated shall not ex-
ceed one-fourth of the whole land. This moderation
is exercised as a recognition of the honourable way
in which the natives have conducted the war, "nei-
ther robbing, nor murdering, but respecting the
wounded." The Maories have certainly earned a
generous treatment at our hands. They have been a
brave and gallant enemy, and we act only justly in
not taking advantage of their unconditional submis-
sion. With equal humanity the Governor promises,
as soon as the settlements are decided, to distribute
seed potatoes and the means of settling, so that the
natives may be able at once to maintain themselves.
We may reasonably hope with General Cameron
that such liberal and considerate terms will induce
other tribes to make their submission. It is certain
that these alone could even yet give us a great deal
of trouble, but it is equally certain that they would
inflict infinitely more trouble and suffering on them-
selves, and the submission of this district in the
manner we have described seems to show that the
natives are becoming alive to this fact. If we can
only make them believe that we have no vindictive
or avaricious designs upon them, and that if they
will but submit to the Queen's authority they will
receive lands in secure possession, they are suffi-
ciently acute to know that it is their interest to
place themselves under our protection. There is, in-
deed, we fear, little hope for them ultimately. The
greater energy, the enterprise, and we must add we
are afraid, the unscrupulousness, of the colonists
cannot but eventually supplant them, and gran
dually to dwindle before the advance of the
Europeans will probably be their happiest
fate. But while an irresistible law of na-
ture is producing this melancholy result, the
only tolerable condition for the Maories will be
to live in peace under the equal protection of our
Government. If they revolted again, it would not
only be necessary to treat them with greater seve-
rity, but it may be doubted whether the struggle
would be carried on by troops equally held in re-
straint with those they have just yielded to. Lord
Stanley expressed a very strong and gradually
strengthening feeling in the public mind when he
stated it as his opinion that, atter having once more
reduced the natives to submission, we should dis-
tinctly tell the colonists that they must look after
their own interests for the future. But the Maories
would fare badly if they were left to the tender
mercies of the settlers. The war between the two
races would be one of extermination, and would
only end with the destruction of the weaker race.
It was to prevent such a miserable struggle that we
have taken matters so much into our own hands, I
much against the opinion of some experienced 1,
persons, who believed that the old plan would have
proved the most merciful in the end. However,
we have but endeavoured to do our duty; but if
neither natives nor colonists will be reasonable and
patient, if our interference between the two parties
is as unfortunate as similar interferences in private
life—if it only involves us in constant quarrels with
the colonists and incessant wars with natives, and
does nothing to harmonise the two, we shall have
nothing to do but to wash our hands of the affair,
and let them fight it out between them as best they
may. We will hope, however, that the present news
is an inauguration of a happier state of things, that
the other tribes will follow the example of those of
Tauranga, and that the troops now to be recalled
will be the last who will have to be employed in
this unequal and unwelcome warfare.
HERALD.—Sir Robert Collier, her Majesty's So-
licitor.Ueneral, has been addressing his constituents,
the electors and non-electors of Plymouth. He put
his status very plainly before them at starting.
Formerly, he said, he had addressed them as the
representative of all England, that is to say, as a
private member of Parliament. To-day he comes
before them as the representative of her Majesty's
Government. If he ever was is any sense the re-
presentative of the nation, it is pretty certain that
he can aspire to that quality no hanger. It is as the
spokesman of a party, the advocate of a cause, the
retained special pleader for a clique of men who are
now dragged before the bar of public opinion, that
Sir R. Collier puts in an appearance. It would be
difficult to conceive anything more partisan,
more un-English, more thoroughly one-sided
altogether, than this laboured defence of an
unpopular and blundering Foreign Minister,
of a veteran Premier, on whose eightieth birthday
this tribute, not altogether disinterested, was paid
to the trascendant merits which for seven years
have bolstered up a wornsout Whig dynasty. The
quondam advocate of the American Government

came out very strongly, as may be imagined, on
the question of neutrality. It is pleasant to hear
him expressing his conviction that this neutrality
has been so impartially maintained. It is gratifying
to obtain from one of her Majesty's Ministers the
assurance that the Government, in the question of
the rams, did not submit to dictation from Mr.
Adams. It would be re-assuring, could we only
believe it, to hear that the American prize courts
have been actuated in all their decisions by au un.
swerving respect for the law. Perhaps there we' e
some, even among his complacent hearers, Who fell
that the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act,