B.—No. 2

heal the troubles of this island; but the policy so recommended bears no great resemblance to that winch we are now invited to enter upon. Let us bear in mind that the whole train of events of late years has iiot appeared to the Maoris to show such a disposition on our part as Mr. Biehmond's words express but the (■(jut rary, that, if it is to be shown at all, this is our opportunity. ' 11. Even yet we have not gained the position which we claimed" for ourselves in the beeinnina W e are not yet asserting for the Queen her true position as the equal and impartial judge and avenger ctaUcnmeB committed in the land, but we are avenging a crime against the pakeha, undone which ia not unconnected with the late strife, let, though our present position is not all that it should be it is our wisdom not to throw it away, but rather to make it a step towards something better We 'have already damaged it by our indefinite threats of seizure of land. But the natives in this as in other case?, will look to what we really do in the end, more than to what wo now talk of doin<r • to our deeds more than to our words. " ' 12 It should he borne in mind that, whatever may be decided at home to be the liability sf the native landowners, no law on the subject has ever been" laid down in the Colony. That the first intimation of an intention to take land was given in the Proclamation, which was dated on the 11th of July last but which was not actually published to the natives until the 14th, our troops having entered the Waikato territory early on the morning of the 12th. 18. The example of Ireland may satisfy us how little is to be effected towards the quieting of a country by the confiscation of private land; how the claim of the dispossessed owner is remembered from generation to generation, and how the brooding sense of wrong breaks out from time to time in fresh disturbance and crime. If we really succeed in attaining our great object in preparing the way for law and so converting the noin.nal sovereignty of the Queen into a reality, such a change in our circumstances wffl be an en 1 ■valeiit tor a very considerable cost. 4 14 Moreover, it is just and right to discriminate between the various sections of the Waikato population, who are at this moment in arms, and to inquire whether the rebellious or treasonable character is o be imputed to all alike. This is to be done, as a matter of course, in dealing w subjects of the Crown; but it becomes in this case especially necessary, from the habit so common amongst us ot confounding the various sections of the population which occupies the re-ion of the Waikato and AV aipa, under one common name of Waikato. The real source of our troubles is in the tribe of Maniapoto especially m that section of the tribe of which Eewi is the chief, whose proper district lies near the head of lie Waipa, about abreast of Kawbiaj amongst the natives themselves that tribe fc sometimes included in Waikato, by reason of a common descent from the same ancestors /some imes distinguished from Waikato, as not being locally settled ou that river. The turbulent and violent members of this tribe appear to have controlled the puppet-king, and over-borne all the remonstrances and eilorts of Thompson. The latter though he certainly does not trust us, and is now forced to support the king that he set up, has always endeavoured to keep the peace, and to borrow our laws Ld usages, yet so as to keep aloof from the Government. Probably thj king party count! amoS^a ad herents the very worst and the very best of the whole native population ; both conceited andI wUful Len who have courted a conflict with the English power, and men who heartily desire and seek afto -m don and peace The sense of nationality and the common distrust combine them against us now , J 6; Aa. *° ,the Population of the middle or lower Waikato on this said of Taupiri I suppose it mav be safely said that the majority, however little attached to our rule, had always endeavoured1 to 1v" at peace a nd avoid a collision. Unless I am greatly misinformed, they had, just before the commencement of the present.troubles given the best proof of such a disposition; by refusing to suppor t Kewi in 2 proposal for attacking the troops at the Ia. If so, that was a clear proof that the majorftv (atany rato? did not intend to •' levy war "against the Queen, inasmuch as they actually prevented Eewi fronl do£ so ni their district. It when immediately after that our soldiers entered that district, they then ?ood up to resist what they would deem an invasion, we can fairly account for their so doin- without im ha Ud Ipoved CW '^ hCaS0Uable P UrP° Se which C«* least » f the majority) their K£3S 16. It should be remembered that the proclamation announcing the purpose of the Government in entermg on their land, came after the entry of the troops on their land; and that even whe , h came there was much in the claim it put forth, namely, a claim to take such land as the Government 2 choose, without any mention of quantity or compensation, which was likely to alarm and Se I £ If those men after giving the best proof of their intention not to " levy war " a-ainst"the Queen vet seeing their territory entered by an armed force, and property destroyed by that force stood up 2 resist, ought we not in fairness to conclude that they resisted, not because they were traitor^but rather because they were New Zealanders, or because they were men. "aitors, but 17. Nor are we yet, so far as I can discover, in a position to impute any traitorous purpose fas n commonly done) o the whole population of the native villages between Auckland and the W,i-ato which was ejected under the proclamation of the 9th of July. It should be remembered that t£ tendering ef an oath of allegiance was coupled with a demand to give up £r aim no a Th,s proclamation was issued on Thursday evening. On the next Sunday morning the General cro'sed the Manga awhin. It lu the freshness of their alarm and exasperation, many of the men Z ned their kinsmen, who had already risen to oppose the entry of the troops on their laZd, can we pronounce he r act to amount to a levying of war" against the Queen's authority, in the sense in whk-h those words are used by our law of treason P If it were possible for such troubles as these to occur in En*land

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PAPEKS RELATIVE TO