The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-20 00:00:00

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

At the United Service Institution, on Monday
evening, a paper was read by Captain C. Pasley,
R.E., " On the War in New Zealand," in which he
was engaged and wounded. On the lecture table
there was placed a large model of a New Zealand
pah, fortified in the usual manner, and a portrait
of one of the chiefs who took a prominent part in
the late war was exhibited. Captain Pasley com-
menced by giving a sketch of the history of the
colony from the earliest period to the commence.
ment of the war, in which he represented the
natives in a more favourable light than is usual.
About three-fourths of the Maories have been con-
verted to Christianity, and they are, he said, as
good Christians as the average of Englishmen, one-
half of them having been converted by the mis-
sionaries of the Church of England and one-
fourth by the Wesleyans and Roman Catholics.
The liturgy has been translated into their lan-
guage, and they never undertake anything with-
out a previous prayer meeting, in which the
liturgy is used, in the responses of which they gene-
rallyjoin. They are very particular in their observe
ante of Sunday, and one of the advantages gained
over them during the war was owing to the pah
having been surprised whilst they were attending
religious service, for they did not calculate on
Christian soldiers attacking them on a Sunday,
On their conversion to Christianity they ceased the
practice of eating human flesh, and none of the na-
tives are now cannibals. The superior character
of the Maories to other savages was shown on their
first communications with Europeans by their pre-
ference of useful articles, especially of steel imple-
ments and blankets, to mere ornaments, and they
were extremely industrious in manufacturing and
procuring articles for barter. So early as 1822 the
chief of the northern promontory visited this cowl-
. try, and took back with him 30 muskets, with which
his tribe were enabled to extend their conquests
over a large portion of the northern island. This
early initiation in the use of fire arms, and the natu-
rally warlike character of the natives, have been
principal causes of the difficulties that have been
encountered during the recent war. Captain Pasley
gave an account of the origin of the war, in which
he vindicated the conduct of the Home Government
and of the governors of the colony from the charges
that have been made against them, by the local
press and by some of the newspapers in this coun-
try, of ill-treatment of the natives, and of mismanage-
ment. The immediate cause of the war was the
purchase by the Government of a small tract of land
about 10 miles north of New Plymouth. The land
was sold with the full consent of the tribe to which
it belonged, but William King, the chief most hos-
tile to English rule, objected to the appropriation of
any more of the island by the English, and there-
fore he opposed the sale, though not having any
claim to the land itself. It was the maintenance of
the right to this purchase that caused the war.
Capt. Pasley pointed out the great difficulties which
the English troops had to encounter in hostilities
with an active, courageous, and enterprising enemy,
in a very difficult country, intersected by ravines
and covered with bush, and who, by their spies,
were fully aware of the positions of the troops,
whilst the latter had few means of ascertaining the
movements of the enemy ; for those tribes of natives
who were in professed alliance with the colonists
would not give any information that might prove
destructive to the other tribes. As an instance of
the difficulty of warfare in such a country, it was
stated that the enemy would be completely con-
,cealed by ferns that grew six feet high, and from
that ambush they could fire on the troops unseen.
The reverses on several attacks on the pahs on pre-
vious occasions had given confidence to the natives,
who imagined they were far superior individually
to the soldiers, and they were thus emboldened
great skil
with which the Maories defended their pa, 4nd

even made attacks on the English redoubts. They
dug rifle-pits in such positions that they could not
be driven from them by assault without great loss
and it was necessary to proceed, as when attacking
regularly fortified places, by undermining. The
fences of the palls are so constructed that cannon
balls make scarcely any impression on them, and on
most attempts to take them by assault the troops
have been worsted. It was not until General
Pratt conducted the war against the natives on a
regular system, and with the aid of heavy guns and
shells, that a decided advantage had been gained
over the natives, who were at last driven from one
fortified pah after another, end were, in March
last, compelled to sue for peace. One of the objects
Capt.Pasley had in view was to disprove ate charges
of mismanagement that have been made in the con-
duct of the war, by showing that, owing to the great
skill and courage of the natives, with their superior
means of information, and the small number of
troops that could be spared from protecting the
settlements of the colonists, the difficulties to be
overcome were much greater than generally sup-
posed, and that many of the plans of operation
recommended by the local press would, if adopted,
have resulted in disaster. In answer to questions,.
Captain Pasley stated that he estimated the whole
adult native male population at about 30,000, in-
cluding all the tribes, many of which are hostile
subjecte
to each other, and that the greatest number at
will
be March
resumed lastyear,
by when
Captain
Pasleyat isa
any time acting together against the troops was
about 2,000. He considered the war was' com-
plesued for peace, and laid down their; ari.
The tely ended
d in
a!•
r-,‘
on:the 11th April, as there was not time on Monday
night for discussion.

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

If Captain Fowkes had not been blessed with a
very happy temper, the month of March might have
seen him driving headlong to a mad-house. He has
put together his great building to the best of his
ability ; and as plain wood, iron, glass, and bricks
have refused to look like those delightful pictures
of the new palace painted by imaginative artists, he
has had to stand as a target for a thousand critical
arrows. His conception may or may not have been
the result of a distempered dream, in which a cathe-
dral had somehow got mixed up with a railway
station ; but one thing is certain—it was built upon
a clearly defined plan, and reached its climax of
beauty about the middle of February. Although re-
markably hollow and incomplete at that date, it was
just possible to see through it and across it; but since
that happy time—that day of joy for the unfortu-
nate architect—the whole building bas gone rapidly
backwards. The most energetic exertions are sup-
posed to be bent upon its completion by the Ist of
May ; a man is killed on one day; a boy is crippled
for life on another; a great contractor looks on
complacently at the chaos of work, or touts,
through his servants, in several languages, for
orders for fittings ; clerks of works hurry about
with papers, dogged by foremen and labourers
groups of workmen stand in convivial groups, and
take hourly refreshment from overflowing beer
eans ; a dozen men congregate round a hole, or a
piece of timber, or balance themselves upon swing-
ing scaffold poles, and act as if six hundred years
were allowed them in which to complete the build-
ing ; hangers of pictures shut themselves up in the
galleries (by strict official orders) and do their work
in solitude and silence, as if it were a mystery of
Isis; sappers and miners seem to spend half their
lives in taking instructions from clerks about
canister stoves ; exhibitors look in to learn some-
thing from observation about their space, and
shake their heads when they see the rain dripping
through the glass from a thousand crevices ; autho-
rities, who have more respect for stone statues than
for the well-advertised reputation of Messrs. Keik
and Lucas, decline to send in heavy works in this
order of art until the flooring of the picture gal-
leries is largely strengthened; clumsy carts come
rumbling slowly into the centre of the building
with overhanging loads, and the horses shake their
s
harness as they hear the thunder of the falling
timber under the eastern dome.
cAerltltnhliys
putsmay thebe
active work, and there may be athousand,
e bud.
or there
mayb
but
u nail
structure ttw everyio
n tthahoauwt spoal
is
rnasndek driven
wtohrkati
position.
laid down or raised,
every
men
One half of the in th
in,certainly
southern courts—once pleasingly called the " open
or glass courts"—is now boarded off for the great
French arena, end in another week this great
slice of space will be as private as the inside of a
booth at a fair. According to the tradition which
we believe is popular in Paris, we thought it was
the Englishman who was inclined to fly from
society; and we never recollect hearing it admitted
that the Frenchman was at heart an unamiable
recluse. International exhibitions, however, are
supposed to teach us many lessons in foreign
manners and customs ; and we must not be asto-
nished at this revelation of French character.
The enclosure of the French industrial court is 1
high, complete, and perfect, and it even goes to the
length of having a grand private entrance built
between two of the columns at the western end of
the nave ; but there are other enclosures, which,
though smaller, are more hideous. The north-west
transept is now filled in along its centre with three
or four large square boxes, that look like gigantic
packing-cases. These may probably be intended
for other foreign courts (we really have not had the
heart to hunt out the proper official to inquire), or
they may be intended for snug little offices, where
large orders may be taken away from the crowd, or
international thimble - rigging may
be carried on
without the knowledge of the commissioners.
be threatened in different parts, to judge by the
timber preparations, and even now the day has
Other structures of the same hideous kind seem to
passed when it was possible to get a good perspec-
tive view of the building.
There must be a weighty official reason for allow-
ing these industrial pens to be erected, and pro-
bably the public would like to know it. If it is
true that the engineers in charge of the building
will not allow even a high-art door-mat to be hung
from the galleries—if it is true that those tolerably
graceful airways are built more for show than for
substantial use, then we can have nothing more to
say about this unseemly boarding. Vertical space
must be had in other places as well as against the
outer brick walls ; and if this necessity has not been

provided for by the architect and contractors, the
oversight only matches that carelessness which for-
got to make proper doorways to the building.
The painting is .not yet finished in the western
dome, and therefore the huge scaffolding—a forest'
of timber—looking at a distance like fine lace-
work, is still standing. This wooden web is made
of about 40,000 cubic feet of timber, and is really
such a wonderful example of human labour and
ingenuity that it would not disgrace the commis-
sioners if it were to stand as part of the exhibition.
The eastern annexe, where about 35,000 square
feet of open-air space is to be left, is still in a very
backward condition. It was the last extension of
the building decided upon by the commissioners;
but that is no reason why little or no exertions
should be made to finish it. Labour is plentiful
enough at fair market rates, and the building is largey
enough, and the work scattered enough, to employ
a much larger number of men than those HOW
pat
on by the contractors. No bickering
with the com-
missioners, no complaints about official delays lead-
ing to extra cost and uncertainty,will absolve the
contractors from their obvious duty to the exhibitors
and public. If they regarded the commissioners
h
more as masters and less as tenants-at-will, it might
more business-like
statePeThrh of progressaearrivals
leadof
to
ian the appierßritish alad
building.
goods have now reached
more than a hundred cases ; and many fittings of
various degrees oI 2
beauty and size have been

delivered in this department. tt
department the deliveries still court'
although it is understood that ma
arrived at the outports, or are wareNle
it i
ferent parts of London until the courts' are e.
trio
mere ready to receive them. About 20 t'aus have
come in from France, half the Prussian goOdE., and
the contributions of several minor states, but h'aidlY
anything yet has been seen from Austria. The tithee
greatest coverers of space will be France, Prussia,
and Austria, and France has got about a third of
the whole foreign division. The boarded French
Court, which we have just alluded to, is being
rapidly filled with fittings for Lyons silks and other
specialities, and it is understood that the centre
will be devoted to a great trophy formed of the
Ville de Par,is table plate. The Americans have at
last decided not to exhibit nationally, and what'
goods are sent will be individual contributions.
In Class 1.--the department for mining, quarry-
ing, metallurgy, and mineral products, which is
under the management of Mr. Rqbert Hunt, F.
—we shall have a very large and important collec-
tion, although the conameicial motive to exhibit is
weaker than in any other casns, The transport of
the specimens has been costly, and few of the exhi-
bitors can expect any reward except the thanks for
suggested
xggi
w
having contributed to an instructive and interesting
collection.
The National Committeeebosiftt
eefddo
suggesting,
ntt
hh
tiehs csdleda
desirability
department'
oaadrbrstieor
armiwte
yneut pe.
of
ex-
tent, hi
desirable f
the Emit
tent, the nature of the object which it was thought
cwomitwith
shouldittthee v
be e h
on.
The
tea
for exhibiting special • - the size of mineral specimens within mode-
rate limits, as being more convenient for display,
and e
tte
peculiari-
ties than unwieldy masses. This did not of course
scbx
he
apply no any remi:rkable examples, such as sections
They also recommended that where building stones
iebr ai
of lodes, or peculiar And illustrative phenomena.
were exhibited in the form Of cubes„. -truiforna
size of eight inches should be pry,:,e,rved-. and it was
deemed essential that two surfa.'s of the cube
should be left in the natural state--
undressed.
These and all mineral specimens are to ht,we labels
attached, carefully giving the locality from which
they were obtained, and, if possible, the geological
formation to which they belong.
This large and complete collection is to be chiefly
placed in the eastern annexe, as a companion to
the show of agricultural implements. The court is
to be largely fitted up with ornamental marbles.
The specimens of gold from Devonshire and
Wales will probably be general objects of interest
The local subscription to pay for widening the
Brompton road seems to have taken a ready-money
form, for labourers are now heartily working on this
very necessary task. The Boulevard is condemned ;
the axe is laid to the root of the rotten trees ; the
forecourts are being torn up ; the local tradespeople
look hopeful and cheerful, and in about another
fortnight or three weeks the thoroughfares will be
widened from the Horse Repository io the Museum
bend at least one-half.
Nothing definite or official can be stated about
the programme for the opening on the Ist of May,
beyond the fact that the band and chorus will be
Mr.
on a gigantic scale, under the direction o
Costa. Mr. Bewley, the general manager the
of
Crystal Palace, has a share in the direction of the
B we believe,
musical arrangements. Mr. Cole, C .
has been put in office to do his best to seat thirty
thousand people within view of the ceremony, and
if he falters Mr. Bewley will, no doubt, be able to
help him.--Daily News.

POLAND.

--.41p..----...

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.I
WARSAW, MARcu 13,1862.

The tranquility which reigns among the people
in this city, much to the annoyance of the Govern-
ment, has been a little disturbed by the announce-
ment of an act of clemency, published in a supple-
ment to the official Gazette, Dziennok Powszechily.
The occasion for this display of Imperial magnani-
mity was the anniversary of the accession to the
throne of Alexander 11., which fell on the 3d inst.,
but the celebration of it had been postponed for
Sunday, the 9th, in order that a more numerous
assembly could be gathered in the Cathedral, where
the "Te Ileum" for the Czar was to be sung. Dur-
ing the whole week prior to the ceremony the
authorities circulated reports on the forthcoming
amnesty, the raising of the siege, and they issued
an order to all the public functionaries to attend at
the Cathedral, adding "that the greatest possible
importance is attached to this injunction." A cer-
tain success has crowned this manoeuvre, for many
of the officials arrived fully persuaded that at last
some mitigation in the actual state of this unheard-
of tyranny should be proclaimed. But what was
their disappointment when the list of the victims
whose punishment was partly diminished had been
read. They soon dis.covered that the Church was
swelled for the sole purpose of showing the
Emperor that vast numbers of the population
rushed to the Cathedral to hear the Te Deunt sung,
and to participate in this so-called joyful event.
In fact, out of thousands of persons arrested and
transported to Siberia, only 74, according to the
official journal, have had their sentences commuted;
and even in this small number figure several per-
sons who had been at large before the list came out.
For instance, the Rev. Canon Witman, of the
diocese of Warsaw, having undergone his arrest,
and been liberated from the fortress on the 7th,
was still included in the list as pardoned by his
Majesty. Mr. Alexander Wambach, the proprietor
of the Hotel of Europe, one of the largest and finest
establishments of that kind, was, to his great sur-
prise, informed, on the Bth inst., that ho had been
condemned to one month's imprisonment in the for-
tress without any previous notice or trial, and that
fhoer
mthaeyjpouerrhnaepys.
imitrnpl elatiaasoeirdtltdeft,
pleasesorhi
nnews sentence
edznnee ntctoelteemle
use thatpsnso
nua Russian
hhst
amsnni
Majestys
Generalh m e n astonishment,
,
traii Thetenl hesmi
Spot
semhaun
egineecuvnehressiaxateauntintilkts
ttdalethoheyphtinmehherhei seha
esntti
.t extraordinary
l amnesty from which
favourable impressioniwas abroad.
oya
dt r. u mopfe ttehde
do
i.
disposition
oe
sit 0
na
of the Emperor Alexander 11. I hope it will be
appreciated by the Liberal press of France and
England, as it deserves, a perfect mockery and a
delusion, especially when it is known that a few days
lanternm a
lock
are
suffered to ago fresh arrests have been made. Mr. Alexander
Zamoyski (no relation to the illustrious family
bearing the same name) has been thrown into pri-
son because, it is alleged, printed copies of a,
national address to the Archbishop have been dis-
covered in his apartments.
Still we must not complain, for concessions, such
as
they are,
Thus w
11
o'clock
at nights which is ono hour later than a short time
ago, and we were asked to go to the theatre on the
9th, free of expense, an invitation
whichwas de-
clined by the Poles. The Russians do not relish
much occupying alone all the
places, half of which
remain empty.
hbaeve out rewaliltyh been
the
de.

General Krzysanorski, Military Governor of
Warsaw, and well known for his atrocious conduct
to the inhabitants, has left for Lublin, to inspect
the army stationed there, and to drill the police for
a stricter performance of its duties.
Intelligence of a bad nature has reached us hero
of the state of the Ukraine, Podolia, and Volkynia.
Scarcity of labour and of money has produced a
thorough stagnation in business. The trade in corn
has also fallen very much, and a general distress is
imminent. A deputation, composed of the marshal
of the nobility of the Government of Kijon, Mr.
Tlnrwat, of Connt Alfred Potoski, anLubianski, has proceeded to St. Peters t
bctilro of, Countwitha
view to obtain authority for the establishmen of
Credit Society. I con-
dition and the disorganisation of internal
h
the Russian
ssianEmpire are the mat causesarinPcare tt
of the misery which
now prevail in these ancient provinces of Poland,
the
t
E a
larkets.
urope,
so justly renowned for their fertile soil,an supply
with it all the European ma
which pro-
duce the finest wheat

The Chancellor of the Exchequer left London yes-
terday for Windsor Castle.