Fuller accounts of the disaster in New Zealand serve to
prove that it was mainly due to the inexperience of the colonists in the work of defending themselves. They intended, when the Queen's troops were withdrawn, to form a Colonial Army of 2,500 men ; but the business did not press, and was neglected, so that when the natives broke out they had not 500 men under arms, who seem to have behaved as troops often behave in their first experience of bush fighting. A very little experience will make them as good savages as the Maories, and then their superior civilization will tell. The early settlers in America were constantly beaten by the Indians, and, indeed, the settlers are often beaten now. A few months of trouble will probably develop a " partizan " leader of real capacity, and then we may bid the Maories good-bye. They will not be heard of again in the history of the Empire.
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