The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-18 00:00:00

which hostilities should be carried on, would be
natural enough, but every one would expect that at
least, in respect to the policy of the war, no possible
diversity of opinion could exist. But, singularly
enough, it is precisely upon this point that Sir
George Grey and Sir Duncan Cameron have come
to loggerheads; and if a few isolated scraps of cor-
respondence furnish an accurate index of the opinion
entertained by the General in command, it must be
confessed that his views on the subject of the re-
cent outbreak, and the circumstances which occa-
sioned it, differ widely from those advanced by the
representatives of the New Zealand Government.
The insurrections in New Zealand have, as the
public are aware, invariably been occasioned by dis-
putes between the colonists and the natives in
respect to the possession of land ; and the general
idea entertained, or at least fostered in this country,
is that the natives pertinaciously refuse to part with
their lands, although the colonists offer them in ex-
change, either in money, flocks, or merchandise, a
fair equivalent. Occasionally, however, events have
occurred which induced persons to question the
soundness of this notion, and members of the Home
Government reluctantly admitted that the transfer
of land from the aborigines to the settlers was not
effected so equitably as was supposed, and that it
not unfrequently happened that the owners of the
soil found themselves stripped of their inheritance,
without, however, receiving the purchase money.
The mode of proceeding, as shown in some instances
to have been adopted, was this :—The Colonial Go-
vernment, acting for the colonists, purchased, or
affected to purchase, a tract of territory from per-
sons pretending to be the owners, and, having done
so, proceeded to take possession. The rightful
owners thereupon resisted the appropriation of their
land, the adjoining tribes apprehensive of being the
next victims, espoused their cause, and therefore an
insurrection began. The next step of course was
for the Colonial Government to demand the em-
ployment of the Imperial troops, in order to crush
the rebellion and protect the settlers, and when the
troops had been employed, and the unfortunate
savages compelled to capitulate, the final step of all
was to confiscate the property of the rebel tribes.
Such, at all events, was the substance of charges
advanced more than once against the Colonial Go-
vernment, and endorsed by persons resident in New
Zealand, who had certainly no motives for mis-
represeniing the policy of the authorities. Now,
it appears that in the month of January last,
when General Cameron was on the point of
opening the Wanganui campaign, he wrote a pri-
vate letter to the Governor, in which he stated
that, from inquiries personally made, he had
satisfied himself that the purchase of the block of
land and subsequent dispossession of the owners,
which had given rise to the revolt which he was
then engaged in quelling, were conducted after the
fashion which we have just noticed ; and after re-
ferring to the transaction as an " iniquitous job,"
and stating that the opposition offered by the natives
was not to be wondered at, expressed an opinion
that the home government should be made ac-
quainted with the " true nature of the business."
In another of his letters he wrote—" What is it to
Mr. Mantell, or any other colonial Minister; how •
many British officers and soldiers we lose, in any '
operation they recommend, so long as :the policy
they advobate is carried out." These letters *ere
submitted by Sir G. Grey 'to his Ministers, who,
thereupon advised the Governor to call' upon the-
General to state the grounds'on which he had ar-
rived at his conclusions. Sir DUnc-an Cameron de-
clined doing so, but intimated his intention of com-
municating on the subject with the home Govern-
ment. On the 25th of April Mr. Cardwell wrote a
despatch to Sir G. Grey, with the general substance
of which we are not made acquainted, but in which
he called the attention of the Governor to the dis-
crepancies which existed in the accounts severally-
forwarded by him and by the general in command
to the Foreign-office;, but at the time of the receipt-
of this despatch in New Zealand General Cameron
seems to have resigned. Now, into the merits of
this dispute we are not in a position to enter ; but,
without expressing an opinion whether General
Cameron exceeded his duty in calling in question'
the policy of the colonial Government, it certainly
does seem that the discrepancies to which Mr. Card-
well called attention ought to be cleared up. It may
be that a general officer ought to be nothing else'
than a machine, and that it was entirely beyond his
province to hazard opinions on the merits of the
quarrel in which he was ordered to employ his
troops. But, after all, it is not every man who
can reduce himself to the condition of a mere auto-
maton ; and we doubt very much if in a war such
as that waged in New Zealand, in which a Colonial
Legislature decides on the use to be made of Im-
perial troops, it is desirable that the officer in com-
mand should be one. General Cameron distinctly
and unequivocally charges the colonial Government
with wantonly sacrificing British troops for their
own selfish ends, and with driving the natives into
revolt for the mere sake of crushing them and con-
fiscating their property. The ill-feeling which sub-
sists between General Cameron and Sir G. Grey is
apparent on the face of the correspondence which
has passed between them, but the cause of the final
rupture is not a personal one. The colonial Govern-
ment profess now to be able to dispense with the
assistance of the Imperial troops, and if they will
henceforth suppress Maori revolts with their own
militia, we shall have no reasons for prying too
closely into the nature of their dealings with the
natives. But as our troops have not yet left the
colony, and as it is too much to hope that their co-
operation will not be again required, we certainly
have a right to know whether the serious charges,
advanced by Sir Duncan Cameron are or are not
without foundation.