The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-16 00:00:00

6,_ OXFORD-STREET.

The architectural beauty, elegance of ornamentation, and
brilliancy of lighting of this-noble building, render it one of
the sights of London. Open Every Evening. The pro-
gramme is varied, and includes Selections from "La Tra-
riot i," "Un Ballo in Moochers," ac., (by a full company of
principals, powerful band, and chorus). Solos by Miss Bryant
en the Piano Forte, and by Mr. Russell on the Trombone.
Old English Ballad, by Miss Green, Scotch Duets by the
Misses Stuart, and other vocal and Instrumental music of the
highest order. Conductor, Mr. F. Jonghmans. Thrse c9.m.
_le.
portion of the entertainment is supported by 31ssa5lan-rd
Foster (in his " Life Sketches"), Sam Collins, Harvey,
French (the Nerves), E. Marshall, and W. Randall. Hall,
sixpenee ; Balcony and Stalls, one shilling. Private Boxes,
10s. 6d.

HIGH WATER. AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tam DAY.—Morning, 9h. 54m.—Afternoon, 10h. 36m.
To-mounow.-Morning, 11h. 24m.—Afternoon, h. in.

THE WEATHER.—Surt OFFICE, AUGUST 16, 1 61.
THEEAtoMETER, IN THE SHADE.
72—highest since noon yesterday.
Gl—lowest this morning and during the night.
63—this day at noon.

BAROMETER--29.90.
Wnin—Southerly—moderate ; with rain all the morn-
ing.

Two o'cLocx.—Weather clearing up now. Wind
veered to South-West again.

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THE SUN.
LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1861.

From the farthest extremeties of the earth come
perpetually new evidences of the wonderful truth of
VOLTAIRE'S terrible satire of " Micromegas." The
colossal inhabitant of Sirius asks of one of the little
atoms of humanity whom he is examining with the
aid of a stupendous miscroscope, and whose other-
wise inaudible voice he is just able to catch faintly
through the tube of a gigantic ear-trumpet—" le
Sirien" asks this little infinitesimal atom of
humanity what may be the origin of those sangui-
nary wars among men, about which the said atom
has just then been descanting. "Le Sirien," says
VOLTAIRE, " fremit, et demanda quel pouvoit etre
le sujet de ces horribles quenelles entre de si chetifs
animaux. s'agit, dit ie philosophe fi. e., the
atom inaudible and imperceptible to the unaided
senses but then under the ear-trumpet and the micro-
scope), it s'agit de quelques tas de bouc Brands comme
votre talons." It is the old story, of course. But
here comes the old stm y again to our hearing from
the opposite extremity of the globe. From New
zealand, in point of fact. Where—another war or
the fag end of the old one has again broken out.
Our advices from our antipodes give the particulars
in detail. And among those particulars comes to
us, as an epitome of them all, the Proclamation
issued by Governor BROWNE. From a careful exa-
mination of the causes of this fresh outbreak of hos-
tilities between the native tribes and the
English, it will be seen how perfectly accu-
rate was that ironical comment dropped like
a drop of vitriol on to his page by the 111
pitiless and probe-like pen of the French SWIFT—
that cynical writer who, if he resembled SWIFT in
the cruelty of his irony and the frightful poignancy
of his satire, as far exceeded SWIFT in the scope of
his genius as GULLIVER was surpassed in proportions
by the stupendous bulk of MicaomEGAs. There,
too--in New Zealand, at our Antipodes—where
the Aborigines are confronted by the civilised Eng-
lish--the cause of quarrel is a little bit of earth
about the size of the nail of the wandering traveller
from the Dog Star. Viewed with the eyes of any
celestial visitant—any war that has ever been fought
upon the globe is just as absurd in its way as this.
But of all the ridiculous events of the kind that can
happen, the most utterly ridiculous is—(that
especial horror of the Great Duke)—a Little War.
And this is precisely the character of these inter-
minable little, never-ending, still-beginning, wars
in New Zealand,

Let us loc a at the last specimen, as presented to
our view in. the Proclamation of his Excellency
Governor B ROWNE. And the cause of it ? How
possibly can it be talked of gravely ?
origin of the whole quarrel appears to date back no
further than to the year 1858, when a portion of
the Maori l`ribe, dwelling in Wakaito, set up
a King of their own—a tawny Afajesty,
answering to the ridiculous name of POTATAU
Actually—thist same King POTATAU (having, no
doubt, an eye to power and regal magnificence)
was, in the Jun e of 1858, solemnly installed by his
Maori lieges at a place called Rangiawhia. Two
years later King POTATAU dies. He is succeeded
of course by a Now Potatau in the person of his
son,King MATUTA ERA. Since that period, that is,
since 1860, for a lit tle more than a whole twelve-
month past, matters 1 appear there to have been
going from bad to worse. The Governor, in his
proclamation, states this downward progress of
things very plainly < Diversity of opinion," he
says, " existed from the commencement as to what
would result from this m ovement. Some were led
to believe that its supp orters desired only the
establishment of order, an, d a governing authority
among'
themselves; while others viewed with ap-
PrehetAiee, a
confederacy
- which they deemed
fraught with
,ony. The governor
danger to t:le peace of the co-
more favourable vi
at first .7.nclined towards the
ew of the movement, bat soon
felt
misgiving.,
Which have been justified by the
event." Yet he fives ou to say, " The Governor,
however, has not interfered to
to put down the Maori
King by force. He has I
qvish the hope that the eon unwilling to relin-
a')ris themselves, seeing
the danger of the course they wereao
penu
trsuauintghOratyd
authority
would the institution of an ind,pen
must prove inefficient for all pum
SeB
of their own accord abandon their of good,
attempts?,
H ow little these amiable! anticipations of his tx.
()enemy have been
reicised, events have only too

clearly shown. The result is that the Governor
has had to draw out a terrible list of the sins and
peccadilloes.of the Maori tribe: By way of attest-
ing their loyalty to the memory of King POTATAU
and their allegiance to the authority his son King
MATUTAERA, they have done—what Governor
BROWNE (looking very black at them, askance,
the while) sums up in his formidable
list of crimes. They have set up "an authority
inconsistent with their allegiance" to the QUEEN,
and in direct violation of the treaty of Waitangi.
The first part of this first charge being done, of
course, upon the principle of imperium in imperio
—the second part showing that the Maoris, no less
readily than their European fellow-men, can (when-
ever it may appear to them convenient to do so)
regard a treaty as so much waste paper. Several
other charges, more or less heavy, follow. Fighting,
and burning, and sacking, are among them !
Harbouring ruffians who have committed all sorts
of crimes against her MAJESTY'S subjects—that also
is on the black list already alluded to. The
administration of justice even has been impeded by
the lawless assembling of armed men. Her MA-
JESTY'S mails have been stopped by the Maoris and
their abettors, and " other offences," to condense
everything in one good round phrase, according to
the wording of the Proclamation, " have been
committed to the subversion of her MAJESTY'S
sovereignty, and of the authority of the law."
After all which it was impossible, of course,
for the representative of the CROWN to do
otherwise than interfere. Yet not so much
even now by force of arms as by force of argu-
ment, and appeals to common sense. " The
Ma or; he says, "cannot be more anxious than the
QUEEN
and her Governor for the complete establish-
ment of law and order amongst the Alaori people,
and that the institutions of the Government should
be, as far as practicable, in accordance with their
interests and wishes ; but the Moaris must not for-
get that these objects are unattainable without
their own cordial co-operation. The Governor
last year convened a meeting of chiefs to consult
with him upon native affairs, and has declared
his intention again to assemble chiefs from all
parts of these islands for the same purpose. Her
MAJESTY has been pleased to approve of these
proceedings." And to this new assembly of
the Chiefs, Governor BROWNE now announees
categorically and anticipatively the demands
that are to be made. To wit :-1. From
all, submission without reserve to the Queen's
sovereignty and the authority of the law.
2. From those who are in possession of plunder
taken from her Majesty's European or native'
subjects, restoration of that plunder. 3. From
those who have destroyed or made away with
property belonging to her Majesty's subjects,
European or native, compensation for the losses
sustained." Those conditions, in fact, com-
prise within them not so much the ultimatum as
the ultimatissimum. Supposing these demands not
to be complied with, England will have in some
sense to carry out the threat of " le Sirien"—to take
a step or two across to those little districts ravaged
by the Maoris, and then to crush the offenders
under foot. "Il me prend envie de faire trois pas,
et d'ecraser de trois coups de pied: tonte cette
fourmiliere d'assassins ridicules."

Lord BROUGHAM and Mr. ROEBUCK have both
been doing injustice to Hungary. The former,
indeed, almost by an obiter dictum, beat the latter
of set purpose. What a strange change of positions
that Constitutional Right and Liberty should have
to assert itself against two such champions. Lord
BROUGHAM, in his inaugural address, after advert-
ing to the abolition of Russian serfdom, and breath-
ing his aspirations for Poland, turned to Austria
and Hungary, giving the former, indeed, a passing
rebuke for the centralization it attempted for twelve
years, but describing favourably its present attempts
at a sort of Constitutional Government.
This might have been well enough ; we have
seen and pointed out, ourselves, elements of good, and
hopes of greater good, in the Austrian Reichsrath
and provincial assemblies. We still think them a
great and valuable improvement on the former un-
mitigated bureaucracy. Public discussion alone, if
the assembly could do nothing, accompanied by the
publication of the discussions, is of immense value.
If not put down, or checked arbitrarily, it has
the germ of almost all liberties in it.
But why attack Hungarian movements, and, by
implication, justify those of Austria ? Lord
BROUGHAM said that Austria was willing to give
to Hungary its ancient constitution as " it existed
before 1848, and that the establishment of that
which was formed in a season of civil war alone is
refused." There was no civil war in Hungary
when FERDINAND opened the Diet in November,
1847, which passed the laws of 1848 ; there was
none before those laws were passed and solemnly
sanctioned by the King, No doubt the French
revolution of February facilitated the passage of
those laws; but the civil war, so far as Hungary was
concerned, began by the German Court—with that
Jezebel the Archduchess SOPHIA as chief intriguer
—bribing the infamous JELLACHICH to attack Hun-
gary, while it was publishing from Inspruck a
proclamation condemning him as a traitor. Lord
BROUGHAM must surely remember this ; and
not all his surviving powers of special pleading
could explain away such broad facts.
Then, again, Lord BROUGHAM, cf all men, ought
to know that the Hungarians ask nothing, so far
as the relations between their King and them are
concerned, but what rests distinctly upon the
basis of the Pragmatic Sanction. The EMPEROR
himself does not desire to abolish all the laws of
1848 which his predecessor sanctioned, but those
only which bind afresh the Kings of Hungary to
govern as Rings, in accordance with the Prag-
matic Sanction, and not as conquerors. Those
laws were, indeed, laws as generous to the people,
sacrificing all tha exelusive feudal privileges of
nobility and clergy, as they were explicit in bind-
ing the monarch to govern by the old constitution.
In regard to him, fidelity alone was required. Sub-
mission on his part to the laws, while the people
submitted to them on thcirs. Can Lord BROUGHAM
have been ignorant of this? We own ourselves
surprised. We would specify the laws of 1848,
had we not recited them a short time ago. How-
ever, we trust Lord BROUGHAM has by this time
read M. DEAK'S noble address. He will see then
the superabundant proof that what the Hungarians
ask is what existed by law before 1848. Let Lord
BROUGHAM understand this, that the liberties of
the rest of the Austrian Empire, in the hands of
German Ministers and a Hapsburg King, really
depend on Hungary's firmness. If she sustain her
position, the Germans dare not trifle with the
rest—for a free Hungary would ever side with
those who were asserting their freedom. Were she
to yield, all the rest might be bullied, coerced,
or cajoled by the RECIIBERGS and SCHMER-
LINGS.

From Mr. ROEBUCK, of course, after his visit to
Vienna, and his escapade in the House of Commons,
we were not surprised at anything. A kinsman of
the QUEEN, by marriage, and to do him justice we
believe one of the best of the Archdukes, comes over
here to see her MAJESTY, and to learn a little by
inspection about English naval affairs. He is feted
at Southampton, the town which gave KOSSUTH