because there had been heaped upon them insults
innumerable for years before. The Queen's
authority was at a discount. If a Maori stole
from a settler, he could not be reached by the
law. If he owed money to a settler, it could
not be recovered by the law. If he chose to
slaughter a settler on his door-step, the colonial
government took no notice. In fact, for years
previously, the settlers of Taranaki had remained
by pure sufferance in possession of their own,
and they were made to feel it. The very
magistrates admitted that no help could be expected
from them. Of course, they longed for the war,
and bravely and manfully did they take part in
it, and cruelly they suffered. I really believe
that if a true unadulterated story of that so-
called campaign were written, no one at home
would or could believe it. I read an account
of it by an officer who saw a little, a very little
of it, and you would suppose therefrom that
every obscure skirmish was a Waterloo, and that
the taking of a miserable pah was a Badajos. Yet
in the first fight the volunteers were deserted
by the soldiers, under circumstances detailed in
the commanding officer's despatch, the concluding
words of which are to this effect, if not in
the exact words: "As night was coming on, I
retired according to orders, leaving the
volunteers apparently surrounded by the enemy."
Can England believe that one thousand three
hundred men, regular troops, retreated before
some forty or fifty naked savages? or that
settlers' houses were burned down and their
stock driven off within gunshot of the garrison,
and yet no effort was made by the military to
protect them; the settlers themselves being also
prevented from going out to save at their own
risk their own property? One of the longest
saps on record was made up to a miserable pah,
and in the only stand-up fight that occurred,
our soldiers were well thrashed. I have seen
old soldiers, men who had seen service, grind
their teeth when asked about the affair, and
fairly curse at the disgrace brought on them by
the sheer ignorance and incapacity of senior
officers. As a matter of course, what little
prestige was left from the wars of 1848-49, was
lost. The natives withdrew their forces, driving
off with them cattle, sheep, and horses, leaving
the province of New Plymouth a desert, and its
settlers ruined, their houses burned, their stock
lifted, many of their children dead from fever,
diphtheria, &c., caused by their being cooped up
in the town, while not a few of the best and
bravest had either been killed in action, or
murdered by the enemy.

Sir G. Grey came, he thought, to buy the
Maori over to allegiance by setting up a system
whereby the influential men were to be soothed
with government situations. He attempted to
set up an universal system of transparent coaxing
and bribing, which has failed, as all anticipated
that it would. The war is now again general
over the island, but seems likely to be prosecuted
by General Cameron more actively than
by his predecessors. I trust that it may come
to a more honourable conclusion, if only for this
reason: that the aborigines of New Zealand,
after years of mismanagement and misrule, must
needs be made to feel our strength before they
will ascribe to anything but cowardice our will
to be their friends. In that spirit we now
fight. The respectable English settler has no
hatred at all for the Maoris. He likes their
pluck, admits their intelligence, and cannot
altogether blame them for taking advantage of the
system of bungling and mismanagement which
has been adopted for their governance during so
many years. We cannot blame them when they
act upon the advice of an English party in the
colony, generally known as the "Exeter Hall
party," which has supported them even in their
late rebellion at Waitara, nor can we blame them
for looking down with somewhat of contempt
upon the wretched character of the attempts
made to support our authority. We colonists
lay the blame on the paltry and vacillating policy
which has always been observed towards the
Maoris, and on the utter want of determination
exercised towards them by the magistracy in
carrying out the law. I once saw a horse taken
away by force, and against his own decision of
the law, before the eyes of a magistrate who, in
a case between a settler and native as to ownership,
had just given a judgment. The verdict
was against the Maori, who, not getting the
horse by right, took it by might. The outrage
was simply hushed up, and glossed over, and the
old system of keeping up appearances was quietly
maintained. The natives, judging from such
incidents, cannot but feel the rottenness of our
rule, and in fact they usually chaff us if we talk
about the power of Britain. They have thus
been pushed and tempted into battle with us.
We colonists find that in travelling amongst
them they are courteous and hospitable; that in
the ordinary business of life we can pull together
very well; that bargains of all sorts can be
settled between us; and that as long as we are
let alone we get on very well.

That is the settlers' way of looking at a question
usually presented to the home public in
missionary reports and government despatches,
which these notes may perhaps help some readers
to interpret properly.

On Thursday, the Third of December, will be published,
price 4d.,
MRS. LIRRIPER'S LODGINGS,
FORMING
The Extra Double Number for Christmas.