The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES.--Agreeable intelligence from our colonies
has, of late, been so unusual as to render particularly
welcome some satisfactory papers from New Zea-
land, which have just been presented to Parliament.
For the first time for a long period, we have official
information from that disturbed settlement of our

cause being actively espoused by friendly natives,
of debt adjusted, and of troops recalled. The two
last of these items of intelligence are those which
will most immediately attract an English eye. It
has been our unfortunate position for some time
past to have our troops perpetually wasted in ineffec-
tual and inglorious New Zealand wars, to hear of
our Treasury being continually tapped to supply
driblets for New Zealand expenses and guarantees
for New Zealand debt, and to see no end to any of
these demands ; and it has been our only wisdom to
submit to this position as best we might, in the hope
of some better prospect opening. At length the
present despatches seem to tell a different story. In
the first place the New Zealand Government have
directed the Crown agents for the Colonies to issue
and hand over to the Imperial Treasury debentures
for £500,000, bearing interest at 4 per cent. Mr.
Cardwell observes, indeed, that this announcement
is accompanied by no information as to the further
financial plans of Sir George Grey's advisers ; but
the fact is satisfactory, so far as it goes. The infor-
mation respecting the recall of the troops represents,
probably, a more tangible benefit. General Came-
ron, we learn, has by this time received Lord de
Grey's instructions for the withdrawal of five regi-
ments from the colony. It is, moreover, the " de-
clared policy of the New Zealand Government" to
send home the remaining regiments as soon as ever
the circumstances of the colony will permit it ; and
for all troops whom it may be desired to retain for
a time Sir George Grey is instructed to take care
that " that provision is made which is contemplated
in the correspondence between this Department
and Mr. Reader Wood." The policy, in fact, of
allowing the colonists to fight their own battles is
now thoroughly commenced, and we may expect in
a short time either to have no troops engaged in a
New Zealand war, or to be relieved of the principal
expense of their employment. It will be the chief
advantage to be expected from such an arrangement
that the colonists will be very chary of calling in our
assistance. Satisfactory, however, as this informa-
tion appears, it might be received with some mis-
givings if we had reason to think at the same time
that the disaffection of the natives was as active as
of old. But, happily, in this respect also the news
is more satisfactory. Our troops seem to have been
for some time comparatively inactive, to the appa-
rent dissatisfaction of the colonists; but two suc-
cesses of considerable importance have been achieved
independently of their assistance, and both are due
.to the interference of friendly natives. The first of
these successes is the defeat, already reported, of the
rebels in the province of Wanganui, in a regular en-
gagement with the friendly natives. Twenty-five
rebels are said to have been killed on the field, and
four chiefs of importance were taken prisoners. One
of them is the principal chief of the Wanganui dis-
trict, and he has since appeared before Sir Georg e
Grey, has made his entire submission to her Ma-
jesty's authority, and has midertaken to aid, to the
best of his ability, in preserving the peace, so far as
concerns the Wanganui river and the adjacent dis-
trict. He had, moreover, previously given proof
of the sincerity of his intention, by sending back to
their country a reinforcement of about 200 men who
had been despatched by other disaffected chiefs to
his assistance. It seems not too much to anticipate
with Sir George Grey that the firmness thus dis-
played by the friendly natives and the conduct of
this prominent chief will exercise an important in-
fluence upon other chiefs in the same part of New
Zealand, and we hope with him that he " may
not be too sanguine in saying that he regards it
as a proof that the disturbances prevailing in
New Zealand are now drawing to a close."
This welcome anticipation is most materially sup-
ported by the second of the two successes we are
considering. A few days before this victory was
gained on the west side of the island a still more
important service had been rendered by a friendly
tribe on the east coast, and one all the more welcome
because it had been obtained without any sacrifice
of life, and almost without hostilities. Sir George
Grey informs us that "he had known for some
time that the disaffected chiefs viewed the new
superstition which has sprung up, and which they
term ' Pai Marire,' as a bond of union which is to
unite all parties in a last effort against the European.
race ;" and that, in some instances, they had deter-
mined to delay further hostilities until the prophets
of this superstition had been despatched to the na-
tives of the east coast, and the result of their mission
ascertained. The officer commanding at Taurangi
received timely information of this expedition having
set out, of its first destination, and clear evidence
of the nature of its obj ect. It was obvious, there-
fore, that if it could be intercepted and captured at
the outset, a decisive blow would be struck at one
of the main supports of the rebellion. He wisely
decided, however, to attempt this capture by sending
an armed European force up the country, and he
accomplished his object far more effectually by
communicating the information to a friendly tribe
and treating it rather as their concern than his to
stop it. The result was that without the least diffi-
culty they captured the whole expedition, consisting
of the principal chief of the Taurangi district, the
leading Pai Marire prophet, another prophet, and
a number of their followers ; and these prisoners
were all handed over to Colonel Greer, to whose
management the success was due. The more insig-
nificant members of the expedition were at once
dismissed, but the chief, the two prophets, and six
of their followers, were retained for Sir George
Grey's decision. The chief, it appears, is an old
friend of the Europeans, who has only lately been
carried away by the new superstition, and the prac-
tical evidence of the falsehood of its claims afforded
by the capture of its prophet promptly brought him
back to his former allegiance. He accordingly at
once expressed the greatest concern at having been
in any way connected with the recent transaction,
and offered to make the fullest submission to the
Queen's authority, and to aid in any manner he
could in bringing about a lasting peace. The
friendly chiefs offered to guarantee his loyalty, and
with the concurrence, as it appears, of every autho-
rity in New Zealand, he has been released upon his
parole, " subject to the condition of living at such
place as the Governor might direct until the war is
terminated." The other captives are retained as pri-
soners, and will be brought to trial before a court-
martial, on a charge of endeavouring to excite her
Majesty's subjects to join in the present rebellion.
We are placed in a singular difficulty in dealing
with these prophets. It would seem wise to disre-
gard them, after having so completely demonstrated
the falsehood of their pretensions; but this course is
rendered difficult, as " they are believed by their
deluded followers to possess supernatural powers,
and that these will be manifested by their so blind-
ing us that they will be let loose without suffering
any punishment." We may hope, however, that
some means will be found of steering between this
danger and that of making martyrs of these fana-
tics, and that, to use the expressive language of one
of the despatches, the result will be effectually " to
put out the Pai Marire humbug." If this trouble-
some war should be really brought to a close by this
means, it would afford a singular condemnation of
our former tactics. A more decisive success appears
to have been achieved by a skilful employment of
the friendly natives than by all our dearly bought
military achievements. There appears, indeed, to
be some apprehension that the friendly tribe who
thus assisted us will be exposed to an attack from
the hostile natives ; but even if this should be the
case, it would be a very different thing protecting
the natives in the immediate vicinity of our own
settlements, and entangling our elaborately orga-
nised forces in an invasion of the Maori bush. If
we could but surround our settlements with a band
of friendly natives, we should be comparatively
secure, and our influence could not fail to extend.
HERALD.—A night or two ago Ministers pro-
posed the vote to enable them to buy the land re-
quired for the enlargement of the National Gallery.
The site of Archbishop's Tenison's School, and the
plot adjoining, occupied by the workhouse, are
found to offer all we require for the proposed ex-
tension; and it is so far a happy incident in the
matter, that as all the parties making the cession
are trustees for interests which will be rather bet-
tered than injured by the transfer, we may count
on having the acquisition at no exceptional cost to
the national Treasury. The arrangement, in fact,
will be about as simple as the purchase of a tub of
butter in the market ; and as we recall the fact that
the want we are thus meeting so tardily has been
quite beyond the power of exaggeration, we have
the feeling of an unexpected relief when we dis-
cover that the supply was always at hand, to be had
merely for the asking. Suffering under a famine,
we have been shutting our eyes and obstinately re-
fusing to open our mouths and take the goods the
gods had been wearying themselves in providing
for us. Perhaps one reason why Government has
been so long coy in accepting so desirable an oppor-
tunity has been the unwillingness to meet the diffi-
culty which now presses upon them of deciding
whether the gallery shall be enlarged or rebuilt.
After the floods of learned invective we have all
been pouring out against that unfortunate struc-
ture, how, in the name of that transcendental art
we all insist on and never get, shall we retain what
we have, and yet avail ourselves of the new space,
which would leave us without an excuse for the
absence of 'a gallery worthy of the nation ? By
what magic of architecture may we make the build-
ings we have even a,part of that decent Temple of
of the Fine ,AXt4 which all the better aspirationa of