The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-19 00:00:00

AENEWAL OF WAR IN NEW ZEAL ANL

" Governor Grey, who, since the military occupation of
Tataraimaka, has remained at Taranaki, has applied himself
to the investigation of the validity of the Queen's title to
Waitara; and it was very speedily discovered that thenative
land-sellers of Taranaki had no right to dispose of the
Waitara, and that, though we went to war to maintain our
right to this land, which we supposed to have been acquired,
we had neglected to go through the ordinary form of paying
the stipulated price of what was declared to be duly pur-
chased, and to belong to the Crown."
Here, then, we have at length an authoritative
declaration that the irritation of nine years—a long
course of diplomacy, several expensive investiga-
tions, from that of Mr. Spain in 1844 to that of Mr.
Bell in 1863, the printing of several bulky folios,
a bloody and costly war, and a ruined settlement,
have all proceeded from a mistake, and that mistake
not remedied early enough to prevent a new crop of
evils, of which we can scarcely as yet measure the

extent.
I now return to my private letter :
" Unfortunately,the proclamation(giving up theWaitara)
came out after the recent surprise] and slaughter of some of
our soldiers by a party of the Taranaki tribe, who have
hitherto held the Tateraimaka block (that which Sir Gem ge
Grey has lately occupied) as a material guarantee,' as the
Emperors of Russia would say, for the restitution of the
Waitara, or rather of the land taken possession of by our
troops outside the Waitara block, for that more than the
block itself has been the sore point. But although the Pro-
clamation came out afterwards, it had been agreed to berme
by all the Ministers—though I am told that one of them
hesitated for some time before he could finally make up his
mind,"

Now, I have no doubt that this decision of the
Government will be accepted by a large proportion
of the natives more or less well disposed towards
the Government, and the improving influences of
the Europeans, as a decided mark of the Pakehas
sense of justice, and this feeling will be—indeed
already is—much strengthened by the fact that the
Taranaki natives have now put themselves in the
wrong, whereas in the war of 1861 moat of our
native adherents believed them to be right. This is
really a very important consideration, because there
is a very marked "public opinion" among the
natives of New ealand, kept alive by their Runanga
or deliberative meetings, and which the late events
will greatly influence. The two great nations of the
north are the Nga Pai and the Waikato—names
with which the English reader must be familiar. Both
of these have condemned the massacre, have orga-
nised a party to maintain peace, and some of the lead-
ing Waikato chiefs have announced to the Governor
that they will prevent war and protect all the
European residents in their country. A chief, who
adopts the English name of Naylor, has written to

Auckland announcing this favourable condition of

opinion, and the measures which he describes for
securing peace be states to have been agreed to at a
Runanga attended by 400 natives. He adds that
the mana (influence or authority) of the King move-
ment is gone. The southern natives have also de-
nounced the massacre. At the same time, it should

not be concealed that Waikato is not unanimous.

There is a considerable party in what is called the

Lower Waikato who continue to b© hostile to the

Government, and will sanction, and perhaps aid in,
any warlike demonstration. It is slid that they

have lately constructed a strong pah at Rungiriri,

near the Waikato river, " with that er gineering
°kill and eye to position for which the Maoris are
remarkable." Bat this hostile party will be
7;attenee_de,iiiind perhaps be kept mute and inactive,
shall
presently
subsequent to the massacre wh:ch I
y describe.
I herehtle to mention another circumstance
which aria
to Taranaki, material aid in confining the war
enatntd_ls do so. because, as it is patent to
every one
to in recent neweappot, it is not likely to be alluded
oopaspers.
transporting trooapers. I allude to the means of
20
it
.to the heart of the Waikato
country. About
.ites from Auckland is situated
the township and
dail.yad Ersed
village of Drury, which is now
reached by a good macadamised cos on which
stage-coaches ply
has been made to the w r.ora Drury a military road
&JAM° -
about 14 miles ; not far from
the river, a distance of
redoubt, called" the Queen's,"
a_, end of this road is a
is a small fort or battery for covering the river bank
in n
on on the river and other rittrvesee goltrooya3
.e enibark.
fensive. If " moral force" be at all correctly
and de-
as the " fear of physical force," we need
defined
doubt that this road and the redoubt aaldilQed not
have during the last 18 months worked
soei''' moral
battery
effect on the mind of Waikato. Before the road
was made the country was very favourable to native
ambuscades, now troops can be moved from Au.
land to the river in a day without any risk of au,_
prise, and with the certainty of prevailing over any
nal ive foes in case of surprise.
General Cameron has now about 2,000 troops
under his command at Taranaki, and I believe this
number does not include, Volunteers, who are sum.
cient in number end efficiency to garrison the town.
Applications have been made to Ldia and Austra-
lia for reinforcements. Vic:orii bad before fur-
nished nearly all she had, but crew South Wales

has sent same. It is said that one regiment is ex-
pected from _England and another from India, with
the addition of two native Sikh regiments, but this
may be doubted.

The first skirmish with the natives tock place on
the 18th of AlaY, near the camp on the Tata-
raimaka block, and it gives indications of a policy
different from that of General Pratt. Parties of

troops had bLen detached under experienced
officers to ac; oni:side the camp in diff,:qeot
dircetiozs, an,J, c‘f G:gir2o) iildcperidcatlY

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
MELBOURNE, Jilin 26.
The last mail will have put your reaears in pos-
session of the fact that a party of Mantis had made
an attack upon a military escort at 'Taranaki from
an ambuscade, and, after a successful volley, had
rushed in and massacred with the tomahawk eight
of the nine men of which it was composed, including
Lieut. Tragett and Dr. Hope, all officers and men
of the 57th Regiment. This is very naturally cha-
racterised as a cold-blooded murder, but the expres-
sion is inadequate, It is a murder and something
more, and it is in that something more that the sig-
nificance lies. It is a studied defiance, an indication
that the tribe at least which perpetrated the saysge
act and all associated with them intend war. The
natives have none of the means of indicating a state
of war in use among civilised nations. They have
no ambassadors to withdraw, no denaanaing pass•
ports, no formal declarations. It would have been
idle on the part of the Government to treat this
ovine slaughter as a murder, inasmuch as in all
probability evidence of the identity of the perpe-
trators could not have been procured. The Govern-
ment, therefore, could only treat it as it was no
doubt meant, and it is satisfactory to find that both
the Governor and the General have acted with
promptitude and vigour, and, aided by the courage
of,our troops, severe punishment has since over-
tnken the natives. In the last war there was, un-
fortunately, an element of injustice, which has since
been admitted, which divided the sympathies of
the European population. In this the natives are
wholly in the wrong, and the more conspicuously
so as the last act of Sir George Grey, almost at the
very moment of the massacre, was to abandon the
clt im of the Government to hold the Waitara. Un-
fortunately, however, the announcement of the
intention of the Government was published
at Auckland just after the massacre, and ,
the natives may possibly delude themselves at
first with the notion that the successful attack
brought about the concession ; but it was not so.
The concession was fully determined upon some
time before, and the natives are quite sagacious
enough to comprehend this on examining facts and
dates. A private letter from Auckland affords me
some information as to the giving up of the Waitara
before the massacre. It says—
" I send you herewith a copy of the proclamation giving
up the \Vaitara block, and, as you will se., it was donewith
the advise and consent of the responsible Minister, of whom,
as you know, three—namely, Messrs. Domett, Bell, and
Russell—belonging to the war party of 1861, and two of
them—namely, Messrs. Domett and Russell—to what was
considered the extreme section of that party. It is under-
stood that, before coming to this determination, Mr. Bell
himself conducted some sort of inquiry into the matter on
the spot, while there with the Governor and the Chief
Secretary (Domett), and he fully satisfied himself and them
that it would be useless to enter into any further and public
investigation, and that it would not be worth while to pro-
secute the Government claim any further."
The New Zealander, on the same subject, says—