22 JUNE 1861, Page 14

THE Isi - EW ZEALAND PEACE. T HE war in New Zealand arose

out of a little quarrel, and it has ended in a little peace. General Pratt as- sailed the Maories after their own fashion, following them up when they burrowed in the ground, or raised a pah, by constructing redoubts and pushing forward single and double saps. It was a conflict in which the Maori was sure to be vanquished, because, clever.as he is in using the spade and pick, the Royal Engineers are still cleverer ; and capital shot as he is, fowling-pieces and smooth-bores are no match for long Enfields, ten-inch mortars, and Armstrong guns ; brave and adroit as he is, the courage and the cunning of the Maori do not avail him to defeat military discipline and mi- litary combinations ; and hence, driven foot by foot to his last entrenchment, wearied out by a pertinacious foe, the Maori hoisted the white flag and gave in. General Cameron arrived on the scene in time to see the peace signed, and General Pratt sailed for Melbourne leaving his late foes in friendly chat with Governor Browne. Hapurona, the "fighting chief" of the tribe, hurried into this conflict by William King, made peace with the Governor. William King marched off with his Waikato allies, who, at the call of an influential chief, quitted the Maori fortress. It is worth remarking that the old pah on the Waitara, at Pake- rangiora, has twice been fatal to Archdeacon Hadfield's turbulent convert—once when his tribe were slain, scat- tered, and eaten, never more to- reunite, by the Waikatos, under their great leader, Te Where Whero ; and again, after a lapse of thirty years, when he has been driven away by those whose sense of justice allowed him to return to his native valley, and whose kindness and fairness he requited by bringing desolation upon a flourishing settlement. The peace which has been made is based upon terms which ought to satisfy even the sharp-tongued Bishop of Welling- ton himself, although they proved distasteful to William King. The Maories in arms have been compelled to submit and accept the Queen's pardon. The business connected with the sale of the block of land on the Waitara is to go on uninterruptedly, and any decision which the governor's com- missioners arrive at is to be binding. It is a concession to the Maories of the land league that some sort of investigation into the title is to be reopened, but this concession is clearly not enough for those who would bar the sale of any land whatever by any Maori whatever. It must never be forgotten that the key to this war is to be found in the double object of making the Maories an independent community, and, of course, prohibiting the alienation of any land to Europeans. The renewal of the search into title is a sop to Maori dignity, and it has no other value. For though the terms of peace provide that every one may state his claim, still none can do so who have not submitted, and consequently William King, the chief enemy of land sales, is precluded from setting up any more those presumptuous claims which he sought to enforce by arms. Then all lands belonging to those who have borne arms are forfeit to the Crown. It is true the Governor undertakes to dispose of them amongst their former owners, but as a set-off he exercises the sovereign right of reserving the sites of the small forts we have erected, and the further right of making roads through the entire district. This, it will be seen, places landed property in the Waitara valley upon a different footing, and must make it easier for the settlers to extend their boundaries. Of course the Maories are directed to restore all plunder, but we fore- see that some serious questions and many heartburnings will arise out of the very natural demand the colonists are sure to make for compensation. We have before us an im- mense list of homesteads that have been burnt and destroyed, with partial or entire loss of stock and fodder, nearly all of them within sight of military posts. Some sort of compen- sation is sure to be demanded, and we are afraid that the compensation which would best please the people of New Plymouth would have been the wholesale confiscation of the territory occupied by the Ngatiawa. We are inclined to think better of the terms than the settlers, smarting under their terrible losses, appear to do. Governor Browne has only made peace with one tribe, and be has made peace on terms which undoubtedly give the Europeans a stronger hold on the Waiters. There remain other tribes to be dealt with. Those in the country south of New Plymouth behaved so treacherously and so shamefully that even the clergy do not defend them. The news of peace at Pukerangiora caused the Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes to break up their camp, and seek for safety further down the coast. But these two tribes have committed more murders and destroyed more houses and cattle than the warriors who have fought against our troop!. There is a just cry for the infliction of punishment on them. They en- tered the war unprovoked, they began by murdering the helpless, they continued by burning and ravaging the country, and they ended by driving off all the cattle they could find. The Governor had not made peace with them, and hence, although the war was said to be over, it is pretty clear that General Cameron would have to call these ferocious tribes to a strict account. In dealing with them it would be only fair to confiscate some of their land, and insist on the punish- ment of the assassins of British settlers.

The little war and little peace have served to show that there is in New Zealand an immense field wherein Sir George Grey can exercise his peculiar faculties. It is plain that the time is fast arriving when we must grapple with the King movement as we have begun to grapple with the land league. If the Maori is to be "saved," it must be done by compel- ling him to submit to law, and by forcing him to be content with such land as he can cultivate. No Governor must tolerate any attempt to set up an independent Maori state in the northern island ; and every effort to put a limit to the voluntary and honest sale of land to Europeans must be crushed at once. If this be not done, the Maories will be left to the colonists, and the colonists will have their way, at any cost, whenever they are strong enough. It would be better statesmanship to determine now the position of the Maori race, and give them an opportunity of sharing aide by side with us in all the advantages of European civilization, than to leave the position of the Maori to be determinined by chance and the irregular action of the settlers.