The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-15 00:00:00

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

The latest intelligence from New Zealand is un-
mistakably warlike. General Cameron has been
permitted to assume the absolute direction of mili-
tary affairs. The large force now under the com-
mand of the General has been recently strengthened
by the opportune arrival of the 18th Royal Irish
at Auckland, and there was at the last date (July
14) a body of not less 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 Auck-
land and Taranaki. By the latest advices, the
object of General Cameron appears to be to con-
stitute the neighbourhood of Auckland the centre
of tho forthcoming campaign. Men and guns
have been concentrated at the northern
capital from all parts of the island. The province
of Taranaki itself it is p&-oposed temporarily to
abandon, with the exception of the towns of New
Plymouth and Wanganui, and the fortified position
at Tartaraimaka.

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 Waikatos.

The Melbourne Argus says : Should the Waikatos
take the field, it is almost certain that they will be
joined by nearly all the tribes south-east and west,
from Taranaki to Hawke's Bay. The Waikatos
themselves are said to be able to muster 5,000
fighting men, but this is certainly an exaggeration.
This number would more nearly represent the total
of the whole armed force which is likely, at any one
point, to encounter Gen. Cameron. The Waikatos
themselves are certainly the most formidable enemy
we hate 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 stra-
tegic position, on the road between Auckland and
New Plymouth, and surrounded as they are by deep
impenetrable forests,and protected by every variety
of natural barrier, they will be able to exercise a
most potent influence on the character of the war,
and will certainly give General Cameron more
trouble than any cif his predecessors on the Maori
war-path have yet experienced. The report of a
contemplated attack by the insurgents on the
town of Auckland itself is most likely a
canard, the product of some Maori Seward or
Kingite Hooker. The singular aptitude for mili-
tary 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 iarge town strongly garrisoned by Euro-
pean troops. Auckland, it is true, is almost de-
fenceless on the land side ; but the wide extent of
open country immediately surrounding it on the
south and west is as good a security to the citizens as
any ramparts could be. No native army is likely to
venture into an encounter with British soldiers in
the open field ; and it is only British generals who
commit the blunder of fighting the enemy after his
own fashion. The insurgents, 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 Waikatos abounds in positions almost im-
pregnable 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 pahs, as has been
shown in former campaigns, has little effect in
influencing the result of the war ; for, according
to the Maori tactics, the pahs 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 Waikato, by
pursuing their traditional system of warfare, may
contrive to prolong the struggle to an almost inde-
finite period—they can only be 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.

DETERMINED SUICIDE.—A suicide of a most de-
termined and extraordinary character was commit-
ted at Brighton on Saturday night. The promenaders of
the Junction-parade and West-cliff were alarmed at 8 o'clock
by a loud report from the beach, and on looking in the
direction whence it proceeded, a man was seen falling from
the groyne known as " Anscombe's Groyne," opposite the
swimming baths. Information was at once forwarded to
the Town-hall police-station, and the body of a man was
with some little difficulty gotashore, when it was discovered
that the right upper part of the face and nearly the whole
of the top of the head was blown away, The body was at
once placed upon a stretcher and conveyed to the dead-
house, but up to last night had not been identified. That
the act was contemplated is plain from the fact that he had
so placed himself that in the event of being only slightly
injured by the pistol he would have been drowned. Every
means had been adopted to destroy identification, as the
portions of two letters which would have furnished a clue
to recognition had been carefully torn away, and not a
mark was to be discovered on any portion of the clothing.
An inquest was held on the body by the borough coroner
(Air. David Black), last night, at the Town-hall, and an
open verdict as to the state of the deceased's mind was re-
turned. Judging from the portion of the head which is
left, the body is that of a young man of fair complexion,
between 20 and 21 years of age, about Eft. Gin. in height,
and very slender.
DOVER SAILORS' HOME, Sept. 14.—This mottl-
ing 11 of the crew of the bark Waleria, lost in the gale of
the Bth inst., in the North Sea, were safely landed at the
Dover, and are all under the care of the superintendent at
the Sailors' Home. They are in a sad condition, but as far
as possible every want will be supplied by the institution,
and they will be forwarded to L ,radon with a free pass in
the even'ng • This makes 170 wrecked crews, of different
nations, who have been received and succoured at the Dover
Sailers' H9lllO.