The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—If Messrs. Cobden and Bright were sud-
denly charged with the responsibility of the Crimean
War, and put upon their defence for the sanguinary
and expensive policy which they had recommended
to their countrymen, they could hardly exhibit greater
astonishment than is now assumed by the New Zea-
land colonists under imputation of a somewhat simi-
lar character. It is not to be denied that the colonists
have been regarded as looking at native wars and
large military establishments without much displea-
sure. It has been pretty plainly alleged, both in
and out of Parliament, that the settlers have found.
their account in all the incidents of these wars from
first to last—in the expenditure upon the army, in
the penalties exacted from the natives, and in the
general depression of that race of people whose in-
terests were opposed to their own. More particularly,
it was insinuated that the " confiscation policy" re-
cently devised expressed the craving of the settlers
for the lands of the aborigines, and showed better
than any other evidence could do the true spirit and
origin of these vexatious wars. This being the case,
we have certainly perused with considerable interest
and some little surprise a circumstantial statement of
facts put forward on behalf of the colonists by some
of themselves. A colonial print has devoted its co-
lumns to what purports to be a complete elucidation
of the whole story, and we shall not withhold from
the public at home this new version of the affair.
" The Case of New Zealand," as thus constructed
and set forth, is indeed a hard one. According to
this document, the colony, prosperous and progres-
sive in itself, has always been more or less embar-
rassed by the double Government which a double
population rendered necessary. Side by side with
the British settlers stood the aboriginal race, and
these natives required and obtained an Administra-
tion to themselves. Up to the year 1856, however,
this Administration was conducted by the Imperial
authorities alone, to the entire exclusion of the
colonists from any voice in such affairs. Whatever
might be the relations between the Government and
the natives, whether hostile or peaceable, satisfac-
tory or troublesome, they were determined by the
policy of the Government at home as represented by
the Governor of the colony. In 1856 these arrange-
ments were so far modified that the Colonial Mini-
sters received permission to tender advice upon sub-
jects connected with native affairs, though the
actual decision was still reserved for the Governor
alone. This was the footing on which matters stood
when the war commenced in the spging of 1863.
The Colonial Parliament when it had last separated
had left the Governor, Sir George Grey, engaged
apparently in a policy of peace. Suddenly this
policy was changed for a policy of war, and hostili-
ties were planned on a scale of unusual magnitude.
Reinforcements of troops were procured, the co-ope-
ration of a powerful squadron was obtained, and
extraordinary measures were devised for the more
effective prosecution of this final war. Sir George
Grey, at his wits' end for resources, had hit upon a
plan suggested by his experience under similar cir-
cumstances in British Caffraria. He proposed to
invite volunteers from the Australian colonies, and
to recompense them for their services in the war by
planting them as military settlers on the lands to be
taken from natives in rebellion, thus at the same
time inflicting punishment on the insurgents and
providing for the future protection of the colony. It
is, however, most positively and unequivocally
affirmed in " The Case of New Zealand" that this
war and all these measures for conducting it origi-
nated with the Imperial authorities alone, that the
colonists had no concern with them or responsibi-
lity for them, and that, in fact, the Colonial Parlia-
ment, when it met in October, 1863, received from
the opening speech of the Governor the first autho-
ritative announcement of the nature and condition
of the contest undertaken. Just or unjust, necessary
or unnecessary, the war was the Governor's war, not
the war of the colonists. It had been made without
them, and they were only formally made acquainted
with it in the sixth month of its existence. Then,
and not till then, _their part in the matter began, and
that part was as follows :—The colonists were first
asked to accept the same power and responsibility
in the affairs of the natives as they possessed in all
other affairs of government. This proposal they had
previously declined, on the ground that existing dis-
turbances would not allow them a lair start in such
a troublesome branch of administration, but they
now, when it was pressed upon them, undertook it.
They had then to consider the policy of the Gover-
nor, as they term it, in regard to the war and the
means of carrying it on, and this they say they re-
solved to accept as an accomplished fact, and to give
it an ungrudging support. Consequently, they
passed all the bills brought before them for the sup-
pression of the rebellion, including the several
schemes above described ; they combined for the
vigorous prosecution of war; they raised, equipped,
and paid a large colonial force ; they consented to
encumber the colony with heavy pecuniary obliga-
tions, and they did their best to render effective a
policy which they had no share in concerting, but
which they thus found thrown upon their hands.
They add, too, that this policy promised success,
that the suppression of the rebellion was proceeding
satisfactorily, and that good prospects were given
of a permanent peace, when instructions arrived
from England for the termination of the war, and
the ultimate withdrawal of the Imperial troops from
a contest designated as a gratuitous and unholy
struggle conceived in the interest of the settlers
alone. This was the severest cut of all. The colonists
proclaim that whereas they have been absolutely
without any participation or concern in the declara-
tion of war or the policy which produced it, and
have confined themselves to supporting, with much
cost to themselves, the authorities placed over them
by the Home Government, they are now accused by
their countrymen at home of having fomented and
promoted the quarrel for purposes of their own.
They tell us that a policy which was none of theirs
was upon the point of becoming successful when it
was rudely condemned, and that they are thus left
in a position of perplexity and danger with the ad-
ditional infliction of a bad name and most un-
merited obloquy. Such, in substance, is " The
Case of New Zealand," which has been
carefully composed and transmitted to this country
for circulation. We give it the publicity which is
desired, but we need scarcely be at the pains of re-
marking how much more evidence will be required
before a conclusion can be safely reached. At pre-
sent we will only observe, on this statement, that
whatever may be its accuracy or inaccuracy touch-
ing parties in the colony, it bears rather too hardly
on Englishmen at home. We were absolutely driven
to look to that which was but too truly our own
affair. We found that, somehow or other, one New
Zealand war was always followed by another, and
that there was no visible end to the charges imposed
on the taxpayers of this country. It is all very
well to declare that this was really the last appear-
ance of this ugly demand, and that if the force in
the field had been but effectively maintained for a
little while longer there would have been an end of
all New Zealand wars. This is what we always hear
in such cases. It was even said that, if President
Juarez had not been interrupted in his final pacifi-
cation of Mexico, that Republic would in a few
months have become a happy, prosperous, and ex-
emplary State. We could not take this pledge. We
could only go by experience, and experience taught
us that one war in New Zealand always left another
-to follow rather more onerous than the first. We
saw no escape, but in a declaration that the thing
must stop, trusting that, as in most other matters,
a way would soon be found to effect what necessity
ordained. If we have done the colonists any wrong
in supposing that they approved these wars,the injus-
tice is to be regretted—but if they are really for
peace, and if their wars have been due to Imperial
policy, they cannot lament that this policy is to
be changed. We are not in the least disposed to
consider that all the faults have been on their side.
We think that in some points of this competition
between races they have had hard measure. Of one
thing, however, they may assure themselves, and
that is, that in the present day the true merits of the
case will not long remain unknown. We cannot re-
ceive the statement of an advocate as conclusive
evidence, but the colonists have now had their say,
and may leave it to their opponents to reply.
POST.—Russian credit was once the darling of
Lombard-street. The days were—and it is little
more than ten years since—when Russia was an em-
pire whose prescriptive policy was peace, whose mili-
tary operations were restricted to the remote pro-
vinces of the Caucasus, and whose Five per Cents.
stood at about 120. But the interval has wrought
a great change. War and revolution have taken
the place of peace, and the same securities are now
down at 90. The publication of the Russian Budget
leads us to look into the causes of this state of
things. We used to hear of surplus and abun-
dance, we now meet only with deficits ; and with
the exception of the kingdom of Italy, as yet but
imperfebtly constituted and organised, there is no
Government in Europe that has laboured under so
huge a deficit as the Russian. Military operations
have smothered financial calculations, and expenses
have increased beyond expectation. The Court of
St. Petersburg seems to have forgotten that it is im-
possible at once to exterminate provinces and to
raise a regular taxation from them at the same time.
The kingdom of Poland, for example, hitherto the
most civilised, and probably the most fertile, portion
of the Russian empire, would have continued to have
yielded a large revenue if the common elements of
civilised life had not been taken away from it. But,
as it is, it is impossible to wring from Poland a
larger revenue, even in estimate than 20,000,000
roubles, or about three millions and a half sterling,
and the probability is that the greater portion of this
nominal revenue is not collected,. unless it is in the
shape of forced loans. The RUM= Budget for 1864