You are aware that you cannot be clothed with any legal power or jurisdiction, by virtue of which you might be enabled to arrest British subjects offending against British or Colonial law in New Zealand. It was proposed to supply this want of power and to provide further enforcement of the criminal law as it exists amongst ourselves, and further to adapt it to the new and peculiar exigencies of the country to which you are going, by means of a Colonial Act of Council grafted on a statute of the Imperial Parliament. Circumstances which I am not at present competent to explain have prevented the enactment of the Statute in question.[11]You can therefore rely but little on the force of law, and must lay the foundation of your measures upon the influence which you shall obtain over the Native Chiefs. Something, however, may be effected under the law as it stands at present. By the 9th Geo. IV., cap. 83, sec. A, the Supreme Courts of N. S. Wales and Van Dieman's Land have power to enquire of, hear and determine, all offences committed in N.Z. by the Master and crew of any British ship or vessel, or by any British subject living there, and persons convicted of such offences may be punished as if the offence has been committed in England.... If therefore you should at any time have the means of sending to this colony any one or more persons capable of lodging an information before the proper authorities here, of an offence committed in N.Z. you will, if you think the case of sufficient magnitude and importance, send a detailed report of the transaction to the Colonial Secretary by such persons who will be required to depose to the facts sufficient to support an information upon which a bench Warrant may be obtained from the Supreme Court for the apprehension of the offender, and transmitted to you for execution. You will perceive at once that this process, which is at best a prolix and inconvenient operation and may incur some considerable expense, will be totally useless unless you should have some well-founded expectation of securing the offender upon or after the arrival of the warrant, and of being able to effect his conveyance here for trial, and that you have provided the necessary evidence to ensure his conviction.
You are aware that you cannot be clothed with any legal power or jurisdiction, by virtue of which you might be enabled to arrest British subjects offending against British or Colonial law in New Zealand. It was proposed to supply this want of power and to provide further enforcement of the criminal law as it exists amongst ourselves, and further to adapt it to the new and peculiar exigencies of the country to which you are going, by means of a Colonial Act of Council grafted on a statute of the Imperial Parliament. Circumstances which I am not at present competent to explain have prevented the enactment of the Statute in question.[11]You can therefore rely but little on the force of law, and must lay the foundation of your measures upon the influence which you shall obtain over the Native Chiefs. Something, however, may be effected under the law as it stands at present. By the 9th Geo. IV., cap. 83, sec. A, the Supreme Courts of N. S. Wales and Van Dieman's Land have power to enquire of, hear and determine, all offences committed in N.Z. by the Master and crew of any British ship or vessel, or by any British subject living there, and persons convicted of such offences may be punished as if the offence has been committed in England.... If therefore you should at any time have the means of sending to this colony any one or more persons capable of lodging an information before the proper authorities here, of an offence committed in N.Z. you will, if you think the case of sufficient magnitude and importance, send a detailed report of the transaction to the Colonial Secretary by such persons who will be required to depose to the facts sufficient to support an information upon which a bench Warrant may be obtained from the Supreme Court for the apprehension of the offender, and transmitted to you for execution. You will perceive at once that this process, which is at best a prolix and inconvenient operation and may incur some considerable expense, will be totally useless unless you should have some well-founded expectation of securing the offender upon or after the arrival of the warrant, and of being able to effect his conveyance here for trial, and that you have provided the necessary evidence to ensure his conviction.
Shorn of everything which suggested practical power, except the name of British Resident, Mr. Busby soon found himself in no very enviable position. He was ignored by the whites and laughed at by the natives. To add still further to his difficulties he was slow to recognise that the Missionaries in the long years of their labour had naturally acquired more influence with the natives than he could possibly have, and he was reluctant to achievehis object by appearing to play a subordinate part to them. He had been explicitly instructed to seek their hearty co-operation, and take every advantage of the high respect in which they were held by the natives. It was not long, however, before he began to develop ideas of his own and to formulate a policy which he could not enforce, because it was at variance with that of the Missions.
He had also been accredited to the thirteen chiefs who had signed the memorial to the King in the previous year, and had been advised to seek their assistance in arresting those offenders whom he had power to transmit to Sydney for trial. The number of such persons whom he might have apprehended now totalled, we are assured, to several hundreds; but the process was, as Sir Richard Bourke had suggested, so obviously "prolix and inconvenient," that Mr. Busby exercised to the full the measure of discretion given him by the Governor, and left them severely alone.[12]
According to Captain Fitzroy, who visited the Bay of Islands during the cruise of H.M.S.Beaglein 1835, he preferred to fold his hands and allow events to shape their own course. "He chose to tell every one who went to him that he had no authority; that he was not even allowed to act as a Magistrate, and that he could do nothing. The consequence was that whenever anything did occur, those who were aggrieved went to the Missionaries. Mr. Busby might have very considerable power, because the Missionaries have such influence over the whole body of natives they could support him. If Mr. Busby wanted a person taken up he had only to express his wish to the Missionaries, and the natives would have done it for them, but he was slow to act in that way. He was sent there in a high character, and was accredited to the Missionaries, and had he communicated with them freely and allowed them to be cognisant of, if not the agents in all that took place, while he remained as thehead, and the understanding had been that all that the Missionaries did was done in concert with Mr. Busby, and all that eventuated was from him as the head, his influence would have been far too great for any individuals in that part of the Islands to resist. By dividing the two influences Mr. Busby lost his power of preventing mischief. He remained on tolerably good terms with them, but separated himself in an unnecessary degree from them, and thought he might differ from them sometimes, even to taking a precisely opposite course of conduct to that which they recommended. The consequences were that while the natives retained their opinion of the Missionaries, they found that the Resident was a nonentity, and that he was there to look on and nothing more."
As illustrating the class of difference which sometimes arose between the Resident and the Missionaries, and which must have appreciably hampered the activities of both, Captain Fitzroy stated to the Committee of the House of Lords that when he was at the Bay of Islands in 1835 there was then a serious difference between the real and the nominal head of the community, with respect to the stopping or discouraging the sale of ardent spirits. The Missionaries wanted to carry into effect a regulation similar to one established in the Society Islands, namely, that no spirits should be imported into the country. Mr. Busby would not be a party to such a rule, contending that it was an unnecessary measure; while the Missionaries, on the other hand, were unanimous in declaring it was one of the most useful precautions they could take, but no amount of argument could induce Mr. Busby to co-operate with them.[13]
Mr. Busby at all times expressed the most profound respect for the Missionaries and veneration for their labours. He also cheerfully acknowledged that if the British Government expected them to accord their influence to its Representative they must be given a specified share in the government of the country. But when it came to a point of difference, he plainly let it be known that he considered himself possessed of a sounder judgment than they. After detailing to Governor Bourke a discussion in which he claimed to have got the better of the Missionaries, he wrote: "I thought they would naturally conclude in future that it was possible for the conclusions of a single mind, when directed to one object, to be more correct than the collective opinions of many persons whose minds are altogether engrossed with the multitude of details which fill up the attention of men, occupied as they are, leaving neither leisure nor capacity for more enlarged and comprehensive views."
Mr. Busby might have said more in fewer words, but he could scarcely have depreciated the mental powers of the Missionaries in a more delightfully prolix sentence. Skilfully, however, as the sting was sheathed within a cloud of words, the barb came through, with the not unnatural result that he had to confess the Missionaries afterwards neither respected his opinions nor appeared anxious to co-operate with him in what he described as "the furtherance of matters connected with the King's service in this country."
Though severely handicapped by his inability to coordinate his ideas with those of the Missionaries, or to sink his individuality before theirs, it does not follow that Mr. Busby was entirely idle. He lent himself with considerableindustry to the task of placing the shipping of the country upon a basis more satisfactory than it had up to that time been. At the date of his arrival there were a number of New Zealand owned craft trading on our coasts, and several vessels were building on the Hokianga River. Sailing as these vessels were under no recognised register, and without the protection of the British ensign, which they were prohibited from hoisting, they were liable to seizure at any time by any enterprising pirate.[14]Equally impossible was it for these owners to register their craft in New Zealand, for there was as yet no acknowledged flag of the nation.
These facts were made the subject of representation by Mr. Busby to the Governor of New South Wales, who accorded a hearty approval to his suggestion that the commerce of the country warranted some protection of this nature. Flags of three separate designs were accordingly entrusted to Captain Lambert of H.M.S.Alligator, who brought them from Sydney and submitted them to the chiefs for approval.
This event took place at Waitangi, on March 20, 1834, the natives having been gathered from all the surroundingpasinto a large marquee erected in front of the British Residency, and gaily decorated with flags from theAlligator. Wisely or unwisely the proceedings were not conducted upon the democratic basis of our present-day politics; for upon some principle which has not been made clear the tent was divided by a barrier into two areas, into one of which only therangatiraswere admitted, and to them the right of selection was confined. No debate was permitted, but Mr. Busby read to the chiefs a speech in which he dwelt upon the advantages to be anticipated from the adoption of a national flag, and then invited them to take a vote for the choice of design.
This mode of procedure created considerable dissatisfaction amongst the plutocracy of the tribes, who resented the doubtful privilege of being permitted to lookon without the consequential right to exercise their voice. The stifling of discussion also tended to breed distrust in the minds of some of the chiefs, to whom the settlement of so important a matter without akorero[15]was a suspicious innovation. Two of the head men declined to record their votes, believing that under a ceremony conducted in such a manner there must be concealed some sinister motive. Despite these protests, the British Resident and Captain Lambert had their way, and at the conclusion of Mr. Busby's address, the flags were displayed and the electors invited to vote. The great warrior chief Hongi, acting as poll-clerk, took down in writing the preference of each chief. Twelve votes were recorded for the most popular ensign, ten for the next in favour, and six only for the third. It was then found that the choice of the majority had fallen upon the flag with a white ground divided by St. George's Cross, the upper quarter of which was again divided by St. George's cross, a white star on a blue field appearing in each of the smaller squares.[16]
The election over, the rejected flags were close furled, and the selected ensign flung out to the breeze beside the Union Jack of Old England.
In the name of the chiefs Mr. Busby declared the ensign to be the national flag of New Zealand. As the symbol of the new-born nation was run up upon the halyards, it was received with a salute of twenty-one guns from the warshipAlligator, and by cheers from her officers and the goodly crowd of sailors, settlers, and Missionaries who had assembled to participate in the ceremony.
As is usual with most such functions where Britons areconcerned, the event was celebrated by a feast. The Europeans were regaled at a cold luncheon at Mr. Busby's house, while the Maoris had pork, potatoes, andkororirori[17]served upon the lawn in front of the Residency, which delicacies they devouredsansknivessansforks.
These proceedings subsequently received on behalf of the British Government the entire approbation of Lord Aberdeen;[18]and the countenance thus lent to what at the time was regarded as no more than a protection to the commerce of the country was discovered to have a most important bearing upon the question of Britain's sovereignty over these islands.
Though Mr. Busby found himself destitute of legal power or military force to make good his authority, and equally lacking in the tact necessary to secure by policy what he could not achieve by any other means, he was sincerely and even enthusiastically loyal to the main principle underlying his office—the preservation of British interests. Thus when the tidings came that Baron de Thierry intended to set up his kingdom at Hokianga, he took immediate and, as far as lay in his power, effective steps to defeat what he regarded as a wanton piece of French aggression.
Baron de Thierry was not a Frenchman in the narrow sense of the term, and his foreign associations were more imaginary than real. He was the son of a French noble refugee who had fled his country and had resided in England for many years. The Baron had been educated at Cambridge, had acquired English sympathies, and hadbeen an officer in the 23rd Lancers, so that he was in sentiment if not by birth a subject of the King. When Hongi, the great Nga-Puhi chief, visited Cambridge in company with his compatriot Waikato and Mr. Kendall, to assist Professor Lee in the compilation of the Maori vocabulary, the Baron met the warrior chief, and became fired with the romance of the Pacific. There was much that was quixotic in his scheme of becoming a potentate amongst the savages of the South Seas, and it is possible it was not altogether devoid of benevolence.[19]There is at least reason to believe that Baron de Thierry had persuaded himself that he also had a mission for the uplifting of the benighted, and that when he arranged with Mr. Kendall to purchase him an area of land at Hokianga whereon he proposed to set up his "kingdom," he did so more in the spirit of philanthropy than of mercenary adventure. The area alleged to be purchased by Mr. Kendall on behalf of the Baron was the considerable one of 40,000 acres, and the price paid was the inconsiderable one of 36 axes. The transaction was accompanied by the usual misunderstanding as to the real nature of the deal, the Baron declaring that the axes were payment in full, the natives contending they were but a deposit, or at the best payment for a much smaller area.
The chiefs treated his "sovereign rights and powers" with undisguised derision. They disavowed his territorial claims because they were made regardless of the fundamental principle underlying the Maori law of property—that all the people who have an interest in the land must consent to its sale. Subsequently the matter was compromised by Tamati Waaka Nēne conceding him a small area,[20]to which he retired destitute of retainers, and surrounded only by the members of his own family.
The story of the Baron's landing in 1837, with much pomp and circumstance, under a salute of twenty-one guns, his dispute regarding Kendall's purchase, his finaldisappearance into obscurity, are, however, of secondary importance to our purpose. What is of vital interest is that the announcement in 1835 of his approaching advent galvanised the British Resident and the native chiefs into a state of anxious activity. Living as they were on the confines of civilisation, their information concerning events outside their own little world was necessarily of the scantiest. Their fears were thus often greater than their knowledge of the facts, and so in this emergency they had no difficulty in persuading themselves that an invasion by the French was at hand.
As a counterblast, Mr. Busby counselled that the chiefs should immediately crystallise the position taken up by Britain—that New Zealand was not a British possession—by unequivocally declaring their own independence. His policy was approved, and for the purpose of giving effect to it, thirty-five chiefs assembled at Mr. Busby's house at Waitangi, where in the presence of the resident Missionaries and merchants they evolved the following declaration,[21]which brought into existence the much-questioned and questionable authority known as The Confederated Tribes of New Zealand.
It is not difficult to trace the Roman hand of the Resident throughout the document, especially as the Maori had no word in their language to express the idea of sovereignty; but it is only just to remark that in a subsequent despatch Mr. Busby drew the attention of Governor Bourke to the fact that the concluding paragraph, both in language and sentiment, originated with the chiefs:
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF NEW ZEALAND
(1) We, the hereditary chiefs and head of the tribes of the Northern parts of New Zealand, being assembled at "Waitangi" in the Bay of Islands on this 28th day of October 1835, declare the independence of our country, which is hereby constituted anddeclared to be an independent state, under the designation of the United tribes of New Zealand.(2) All Sovereign powers and authority within the territories of the United tribes of New Zealand is hereby declared to reside entirely and exclusively in the hereditary chiefs and heads of the tribes in their collective capacity, who also declare that they will not permit any legislative authority separate from themselves in their collective capacity to exist, nor any function of Government to be exercised within the said territories unless by persons appointed by them and acting under the authority of laws regularly enacted by them in Congress assembled.(3) The hereditary chiefs and heads of the tribes agree to meet in Congress at Waitangi, in the autumn of each year, for the purpose of framing laws for the dispensation of justice, the preservation of peace and good order, and the regulation of trade, and they cordially invite the Southern tribes to lay aside their private animosities, and to consult the safety and welfare of our common country by joining the confederation of the United tribes.(4) They also agree to send a copy of this declaration to His Majesty the King of England, to thank him for his acknowledgment of their flag, and in return for the friendship and protection they have shown and are prepared to show to such of his subjects as have settled in their country, or resorted to its shores for the purpose of trade, they entreat that he will continue to be the parent of their infant State, and that he will become its protector from all attempts upon its independence.Agreedunanimously on this 28th day of October 1835 in the presence of His Britannic Majesty's Resident.English Witnesses:Henry Williams,MissionaryC.M.S.George Clarke,""James C. Clendon,Merchant.Gilbert Mair,"(Translated by the Missionaries and certified to by James Busby, British Resident.)Names of Chiefs signing Declaration of Independence, October 28, 1835.Awaroa.Hare Hongi.Hemi Kepa Tupe.Ware Poaka.Waikato.Titore.Moka.Wharerahi.Kewa.Wai.Reweti Atuahaere.Awa.Wiremu Te Ti Taunui.Te Nana.Pi.Kaua.Tareha.Kawiti.Pumuka.Ke Keae.Te Kamara.Pomare.Wiwia.Te Tao.Marupo.Kopiu.Warau.Ngere.Moetara.Hiamoe.Pukututu.Te Peka.Hone Wiremu Heke.Paerara.Erera Pare(te kai-tuhituhi).Subsequent Signatures to the Declaration Of IndependenceNēne(Tamati Waaka).Huhu.Patuone.Parore, June 25, 1837.Towa.Panakareao(Nopera).Kiwi Kiwi, Jan. 13, 1836.Tirarau, Feb. 9, 1836.Hamurea Pita, March 29, 1836.Tawhai.Mate.Kaha, June 25, 1837.Te Morenga, July 12, 1837.Mahia.Taonui, Jan. 16, 1838.Papahia, Sept. 24, 1838.Hapuku, Sept. 25, 1838.Te Wherowhero, July 22, 1839.[22]
(1) We, the hereditary chiefs and head of the tribes of the Northern parts of New Zealand, being assembled at "Waitangi" in the Bay of Islands on this 28th day of October 1835, declare the independence of our country, which is hereby constituted anddeclared to be an independent state, under the designation of the United tribes of New Zealand.
(2) All Sovereign powers and authority within the territories of the United tribes of New Zealand is hereby declared to reside entirely and exclusively in the hereditary chiefs and heads of the tribes in their collective capacity, who also declare that they will not permit any legislative authority separate from themselves in their collective capacity to exist, nor any function of Government to be exercised within the said territories unless by persons appointed by them and acting under the authority of laws regularly enacted by them in Congress assembled.
(3) The hereditary chiefs and heads of the tribes agree to meet in Congress at Waitangi, in the autumn of each year, for the purpose of framing laws for the dispensation of justice, the preservation of peace and good order, and the regulation of trade, and they cordially invite the Southern tribes to lay aside their private animosities, and to consult the safety and welfare of our common country by joining the confederation of the United tribes.
(4) They also agree to send a copy of this declaration to His Majesty the King of England, to thank him for his acknowledgment of their flag, and in return for the friendship and protection they have shown and are prepared to show to such of his subjects as have settled in their country, or resorted to its shores for the purpose of trade, they entreat that he will continue to be the parent of their infant State, and that he will become its protector from all attempts upon its independence.
Agreedunanimously on this 28th day of October 1835 in the presence of His Britannic Majesty's Resident.
English Witnesses:
(Translated by the Missionaries and certified to by James Busby, British Resident.)
Names of Chiefs signing Declaration of Independence, October 28, 1835.
Subsequent Signatures to the Declaration Of Independence
busbyJames Busby.
James Busby.
James Busby.
A few days prior to this meeting at Waitangi and the proclamation of their independence by the chiefs, Mr. Busby issued (on October 10, 1835) a stirring appeal to his scattered countrymen, in which he announced that he had received from "a person who styles himself Charles Baron de Thierry, Sovereign chief of New Zealand, and King of Nukuheva, one of the Marquesas Islands, a formal declaration of his intention to establish in his own person an independent sovereignty in this country, which intention he states he has declared to their Majesties the Kings of Great Britain and France, and to the President of the United States, and that he is now waiting at Otaheite the arrival of an armed ship from Panama to enable him to proceed to the Bay of Islands with strength to maintain his assumed authority. His intention is founded on an alleged invitation given to him in England by Shunghee (Hongi) and other chiefs, none of whom as individuals had any right to the sovereignty of the country, and consequentlypossessed no authority to convey a right of sovereignty to another; also upon an alleged purchase made for him in 1822 by a Mr. Kendall of three districts on the Hokianga River from three chiefs who had only a partial property in these districts, parts of which are now settled by British subjects by virtue of purchase from the rightful proprietors. The British Resident has also seen an elaborate exposition of his views which this person has addressed to the Missionaries of the C.M.S., in which he makes the most ample promises to all persons, whether whites or natives, who will accept his invitation to live under his Government, and in which he offers a stipulated salary to each individual in order to induce him to act as his Magistrate. It is also supposed he may have made similar communications to other persons or classes of His Majesty's subjects, who are hereby invited to make such communications, or any information on this subject they may possess, known to the British Resident or to Lieutenant MacDonnell. The British Resident has too much confidence in the loyalty and good sense of his countrymen to think it necessary to caution them against turning a favourable ear to such insidious promises. He firmly believes that the paternal protection of the British Government which has never failed any of His Majesty's subjects, however remote, will not be withheld from them, should it be necessary to prevent their lives, liberties, or property from being subjected to the caprice of any adventurer who may choose to make this country, in which British subjects have now by the most lawful means acquired so large a stake, the theatre of his ambitious projects; nor in the British Resident's opinion will His Majesty, after acknowledging the sovereignty of the New Zealand chiefs in their collective capacity, by the recognition of their flag, permit his humble and confiding allies to be deprived of their independence upon such pretensions. But although the British Resident is of opinion that such an attempt as is now announced must ultimately fail, he nevertheless conceives that if such a person were once allowed to obtain a footing in the country, he mightacquire such an influence over the simple-minded natives as would produce effects which could not be too much deprecated, or too anxiously provided against, and he has therefore considered it his duty to request the British settlers of all classes to use all the influence they possess with the natives of every rank in order to counteract the efforts of any emissaries who may have arrived or may arrive amongst them, and to inspire both chiefs and people with a spirit of the most determined resistance to the landing of a person on their shores who comes with the avowed intention of usurping a sovereignty over them. The British Resident will take immediate steps for calling together the native chiefs in order to inform them of this attempt upon their independence, and to advise them of what is due to themselves and to their country, and of the protection which British subjects are entitled to at their hands, and he has no doubt that such a manifestation will be exhibited of the characteristic spirit, courage, and independence of the New Zealanders, as will stop at the outset such an attempt upon their liberties, by demonstrating its utter hopelessness."
It is somewhat difficult to say, in the absence of contemporary newspapers, what impression was created in the public mind by the Resident's proclamation or by the native Declaration of Independence, but in due course the latter was, in accordance with the unanimous desire of the chiefs, "laid at the feet of His Majesty," and in the following year—so tardy was communication in those days—it was courteously, but guardedly acknowledged by Lord Glenelg, who wrote to Governor Bourke:
"With reference to the desire which the chiefs have expressed on this occasion, to maintain a good understanding with His Majesty's subjects, it will be proper that they be assured, in His Majesty's name, that he will not fail to avail himself of every opportunity of showing his goodwill, and of affording to those chiefs such support and protection as may be consistent with a due regard to others, and to the interests of His Majesty's subjects."
Left to its own devices, the native Confederation wasfaced with a task that proved altogether too exacting for its resources, and it cannot be claimed for the new authority that it remodelled the Government or reclaimed the dissolute society by which it was surrounded. Had it been possible to restrict the intercourse of the natives to the Missionaries and the more respectable portion of the settlers, they might, combined with the counsels of the Resident, have been speedily induced to form an effective administration amongst themselves, and that important stage once reached, they, with their quick intelligence, might have easily acquired a working knowledge of the higher principles of self-government. But thrust as they were in the midst of a strangely confused community, any such limitation was obviously impossible.
Even if it had been practicable, the irreconcilable differences which had sprung up between the Resident and the Missionaries, of which the natives were perfectly cognisant, necessarily detracted from the beneficial influence which an official in Mr. Busby's position might, and ought to have wielded.
The absence of the physical force which Mr. Busby pined for was unmistakably against the due observance of the ordinary decencies of life, for the people whom Captain Fitzroy had described as "ragamuffins," and Captain Hobson had still more emphatically condemned as "abandoned ruffians," were scarcely likely to be amenable to anything more gentle than the grip of the handcuff or the probe of the bayonet. It was therefore to but little purpose that the Confederation should pass ordinances which, if not respected, could not be enforced.
The difficulties of the Confederation accumulated with the increase of trade and population, both of which were growing rapidly. In the year 1836 no fewer than 93 British, 54 American, and 3 French ships put in at the Bay of Islands. The irregular settlement of white people at various spots along the coast had increased in like manner, until in the early part of 1838 a body of no less than 2000 British subjects had taken up their permanent abode in New Zealand. The part these peoplewere playing in the scheme of civilisation was still small, if we are to accept as accurate the verdict of Dr. G. R. Jameson, who in hisTravels in New Zealandhas taken the responsibility of saying that from all he had seen and heard respecting the fixed traders, or the casual visitors for trade, it could be affirmed in the most positive terms that not one of them had ever attempted to teach a native to read or write, or to communicate to his mind one ray of Christian knowledge or of moral rectitude. With a few honourable exceptions they had been in their intercourse with the natives guided by one ruling impulse—the love of gain. Their predominant aim was ever and always to obtain the greatest possible quantity of pigs, potatoes, flax, maize, labour, or land in exchange for the smallest possible amount of tobacco, ammunition, and piece-goods.[23]
It was not alone, however, by the criminal taint of a large section of the population and this excessive hunger for trade that the seeds of continued anarchy were sown. A new evil was at hand which threatened to sap the independence of the Maori, and reduce them to a condition of speedy and abject poverty. This was the land hunger which about this time seized the white population of Australia. There the opinion had gripped the public mind that under the Declaration of Independence it would be possible to pursue in New Zealand the schemes of land aggregation which Sir George Gipps had checked in New South Wales. Under his new land regulations the price of land in that colony had been raised from 3s. to 12s. per acre, and hearing that large areas were to be obtained in New Zealand for less than the proverbial song, the speculators swarmed over to the Bay of Islands, and in the year 1837 the land fever in all its phases of "sharking," "jobbing," and legitimate purchase literally raged throughout the country. "What gold was to the Spaniard in Mexico the land at this period became to theEnglish in these islands, and as the warlike aborigines most coveted the acquisition of firearms, they divested themselves of their only possessions in order to obtain those deadly instruments, which, together with ardent spirits, were the most potent means for the destruction of their race. Almost every captain of a ship arriving in Sydney exhibited a piece of paper with a tattooed native head rudely drawn upon it, which he described as the title-deed of an estate bought for a few muskets, hatchets, or blankets."
Several years elapsed before it was possible to reduce these frenzied bargains to tabulated form, but during the debate on New Zealand affairs, which occupied the House of Commons for three days in 1845, the representative for Westminster, the Hon. Captain Rous, R.N., put forward the following startling figures as authentic. A Mr. Webster, an American, he said, claimed to have purchased forty miles of frontage on the west side of the river Piako;[24]a Mr. Painham claimed nearly the whole of the north coast of the Northern Island. Mr. Wentworth of New South Wales asserted his right to 20,100,000 acres in the Middle Island; Catlin & Co. to 7,000,000; Weller & Co. to 3,557,000; Jones & Co. to 1,930,000; Peacock & Co. to 1,450,000; Green & Co. to 1,377,000; Guard & Co. to 1,200,000, and the New Zealand Company to 20,000,000.
Yet another authority has stated that the whole of the South Island was claimed by a Company consisting of four gentlemen, in consideration of giving the chiefs a few hundred pounds in money and merchandise, and a life annuity of £100.[25]Another individual, representing a commercial firm in Sydney, claimed several hundred thousand acres, including the township of Auckland, for which he paid as compensation one keg of gunpowder. The island of Kapiti was claimed by five different parties, each declaring they had purchased it, but each naminga different price. Some alleged they had paid £100, others goods to the value of £30, and so on, the only point of unanimity being that they were each able to produce something that resembled the signatures of Te Rauparaha or Te Rangihaeata.
In much the same way the district round Porirua was claimed by eight separate parties, each contending that Te Rauparaha had sold to them, and to them alone. Cooper, Holt & Rhodes of Sydney asserted they had paid merchandise to the value of £150 for a tract of country between the Otaki and Waikanae Rivers, running in an easterly direction forty miles from the mouth of the river, thirty miles in another direction, and ten miles along the coast. Mr. John Hughes, also of Sydney, claimed in part all the lands of Porirua for a distance of thirty miles, bounded by the sea on the one hand, and by the Tararua Range on the other.
In the general censure which followed upon the disclosure of these unseemly proceedings the Missionaries did not escape criticism, and are still, at times, subject to severest strictures on this question, as it affects public morals. Unjust as these strictures frequently are the purchase from Hongi, in 1819, of 13,000 acres at Kirikiri for forty-eight axes, by the Rev. Samuel Marsden,[26]was one amongst other transactions which on the face of it seems to leave room for the gravest enquiry as to its propriety.[27]
If the Confederation of chiefs had been helpless in the face of social disorder, it was still more impotent to copewith the inroads of the speculator. The greed for land on the part of thePakeha, and the hunger for muskets on that of the Maori, rendered futile all attempts to control the traffic by an already effete administration. The need for a wider application of authority and efficient Government at length found voice in a petition which was submitted to the King by the law-abiding settlers at Kororareka. The settlers, catechists, and Missionaries to the number of one hundred and ninety-two, headed by the Rev. Henry Williams, Chairman of the Church Mission, joined in the plea for protection.
During the course of their representations they made it clear that the attempt to evolve order out of chaos had utterly failed; that the Confederation of Chiefs was impotent in the face of existing evils; and, praying that His Majesty would graciously regard the peculiarity of their position, asked that he would afford them such relief as to him seemed most expedient.
TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY
Sire—May it please Your Majesty to allow your faithful and loyal subjects at present residing in New Zealand to approach the throne, and crave your condescending attention to their petition which is called forth by their peculiar situation.The present crisis of the threatened usurpation of power over New Zealand by Baron Charles de Thierry, the particulars of which have been forwarded to Your Majesty's Government by James Busby, Esquire, the British Resident, strongly urges us to make known our fears and apprehensions for ourselves and families, and the people amongst whom we dwell.Your humble Petitioners would advert to the serious evils and perplexing grievances which surround and await them arising for the most part, if not entirely from some of Your Majesty's subjects, who fearlessly commit all kinds of depredations upon other of Your Majesty's subjects who are peaceably disposed. British property in vessels, as well as on shore, is exposed without redress to every imaginable risk and plunder, which may be traced to the want of a power in the land to check and control evils, and preserve order amongst Your Majesty's subjects.Your Petitioners are aware that it is not the desire of Your Majesty to extend the colonies of Great Britain, but they would call Your Majesty's attention to the circumstance of several of Your Majesty's subjects having resided for more than twentyyears past, since which their numbers have accumulated to more than five hundred, north of the River Thames alone, many of whom are heads of families. The frequent arrival of persons from England and the adjacent colonies is a fruitful source of further augmentation. Your Petitioners would therefore humbly call Your Majesty's attention to the fact that there is at present a considerable body of Your Majesty's subjects established in this Island, and that owing to the salubrity of the climate there is every reason to anticipate a rapidly rising colony of British subjects. Should this colony continue to advance, no doubt means would be devised whereby many of its internal expenses would be met as in other countries. There are numbers of land-holders, and the Kouri (Kauri) forests have become, for the most part, the private property of Your Majesty's subjects.Your humble Petitioners would also entreat Your Majesty's attention to the important circumstance that the Bay of Islands has long been the resort of ships employed in the South Sea fishery and the Merchant Service, and is in itself a most noble anchorage for all classes of vessels, and is further highly important in affording supplies and refreshment to shipping. There are also several other harbours and anchorage of material importance to the shipping interests in situations where British subjects have possessions and property to a large amount. The number of arrivals of vessels in the Bay of Islands during the last three years has been considerably on the increase. At one period thirty-six were at anchor, and in the course of six months ending June 1836 no less than one hundred and one vessels visited the Bay.Your Petitioners would further state that since the increase of the European population several evils have been growing upon them. The crews of vessels have frequently been descryed on shore, to the great detriment of trade, and numberless robberies have been committed on shipboard and on shore by a lawless band of Europeans, who have not even scrupled to use firearms to support them in their depredations. Your humble Petitioners seriously lament that when complaints have been made to the British Resident of these acts of outrage, he has expressed his deep regret that he has not yet been furnished with authority and power to act, not even the authority of a civil Magistrate to administer an affidavit.Your humble Petitioners express with much concern their conviction that unless Your Majesty's fostering care be extended towards them, they can only anticipate that both Your Majesty's subjects and also the aborigines of this land will be liable in an increased degree to murders, robberies, and every kind of evil.Your Petitioners would observe that it has been considered that the confederate tribes of New Zealand were competent to enact laws for the proper Government of this land, wherebyprotection would be afforded in all cases of necessity; but experience evidently shows that in the infant state of the country this cannot be accomplished or expected. It is acknowledged by the chiefs themselves to be impracticable. Your Petitioners therefore feel persuaded that considerable time must elapse before the chiefs of this land can be capable of exercising the duties of an independent Government.Your Petitioners would therefore pray that Your Majesty may graciously regard the peculiarity of their situation, and afford that relief which may appear most expedient to Your Majesty.Relying upon Your Majesty's wisdom and clemency we shall ever pray Almighty God to behold with favour and preserve our Gracious Sovereign.
Sire—May it please Your Majesty to allow your faithful and loyal subjects at present residing in New Zealand to approach the throne, and crave your condescending attention to their petition which is called forth by their peculiar situation.
The present crisis of the threatened usurpation of power over New Zealand by Baron Charles de Thierry, the particulars of which have been forwarded to Your Majesty's Government by James Busby, Esquire, the British Resident, strongly urges us to make known our fears and apprehensions for ourselves and families, and the people amongst whom we dwell.
Your humble Petitioners would advert to the serious evils and perplexing grievances which surround and await them arising for the most part, if not entirely from some of Your Majesty's subjects, who fearlessly commit all kinds of depredations upon other of Your Majesty's subjects who are peaceably disposed. British property in vessels, as well as on shore, is exposed without redress to every imaginable risk and plunder, which may be traced to the want of a power in the land to check and control evils, and preserve order amongst Your Majesty's subjects.
Your Petitioners are aware that it is not the desire of Your Majesty to extend the colonies of Great Britain, but they would call Your Majesty's attention to the circumstance of several of Your Majesty's subjects having resided for more than twentyyears past, since which their numbers have accumulated to more than five hundred, north of the River Thames alone, many of whom are heads of families. The frequent arrival of persons from England and the adjacent colonies is a fruitful source of further augmentation. Your Petitioners would therefore humbly call Your Majesty's attention to the fact that there is at present a considerable body of Your Majesty's subjects established in this Island, and that owing to the salubrity of the climate there is every reason to anticipate a rapidly rising colony of British subjects. Should this colony continue to advance, no doubt means would be devised whereby many of its internal expenses would be met as in other countries. There are numbers of land-holders, and the Kouri (Kauri) forests have become, for the most part, the private property of Your Majesty's subjects.
Your humble Petitioners would also entreat Your Majesty's attention to the important circumstance that the Bay of Islands has long been the resort of ships employed in the South Sea fishery and the Merchant Service, and is in itself a most noble anchorage for all classes of vessels, and is further highly important in affording supplies and refreshment to shipping. There are also several other harbours and anchorage of material importance to the shipping interests in situations where British subjects have possessions and property to a large amount. The number of arrivals of vessels in the Bay of Islands during the last three years has been considerably on the increase. At one period thirty-six were at anchor, and in the course of six months ending June 1836 no less than one hundred and one vessels visited the Bay.
Your Petitioners would further state that since the increase of the European population several evils have been growing upon them. The crews of vessels have frequently been descryed on shore, to the great detriment of trade, and numberless robberies have been committed on shipboard and on shore by a lawless band of Europeans, who have not even scrupled to use firearms to support them in their depredations. Your humble Petitioners seriously lament that when complaints have been made to the British Resident of these acts of outrage, he has expressed his deep regret that he has not yet been furnished with authority and power to act, not even the authority of a civil Magistrate to administer an affidavit.
Your humble Petitioners express with much concern their conviction that unless Your Majesty's fostering care be extended towards them, they can only anticipate that both Your Majesty's subjects and also the aborigines of this land will be liable in an increased degree to murders, robberies, and every kind of evil.
Your Petitioners would observe that it has been considered that the confederate tribes of New Zealand were competent to enact laws for the proper Government of this land, wherebyprotection would be afforded in all cases of necessity; but experience evidently shows that in the infant state of the country this cannot be accomplished or expected. It is acknowledged by the chiefs themselves to be impracticable. Your Petitioners therefore feel persuaded that considerable time must elapse before the chiefs of this land can be capable of exercising the duties of an independent Government.
Your Petitioners would therefore pray that Your Majesty may graciously regard the peculiarity of their situation, and afford that relief which may appear most expedient to Your Majesty.
Relying upon Your Majesty's wisdom and clemency we shall ever pray Almighty God to behold with favour and preserve our Gracious Sovereign.
FOOTNOTES[1]On one occasion when Lord John Russell was asked by a French Diplomat how much of Australia Britain claimed, he promptly replied, "The whole of it."[2]As indicating the state into which society had fallen it may be mentioned that one Master of a trading vessel who had no muskets to sell, gave a chief a packet of corrosive sublimate wherewith to destroy his enemies. To correct this condition of affairs a proclamation was published in the New South Wales GovernmentGazettein 1814 appointing the Rev. Mr. Kendall and the chiefs, Ruatara, Hongi and Korokoro, Magistrates at the Bay of Islands, for the purpose of suppressing outrages. This authority was subsequently revoked as being illegal.[3]"The Rev. Mr. Kendall has received a commission to act as a Magistrate, but it does not appear that he possesses the means of rendering effective assistance to the natives against the oppressions of the crews of European vessels, and of controlling in any degree the intercourse that subsists between them."—Commissioner Bigge to Earl Bathurst, 1823.[4]This practice was prohibited by the Governor of New South Wales by Proclamation, on November 9, 1814.[5]Edward Doyle underwent the extreme penalty of the law at Sydney for a burglary committed at the Bay of Islands on June 18, 1836, the sentence being imposed under a statute of George IV.[6]The Wesleyan mission in New Zealand originated in a visit made to this country in the year 1819 by the Rev. Mr. Leigh, a missionary of the Wesleyan Society then stationed in New South Wales. He made the visit for the benefit of his health on the recommendation of the Rev. Mr. Marsden.[7]Petition sent to King William through Mr. Yate, per Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, November 16, 1831.[8]The French were called by the natives "the tribe of Marian" after Captain Marian du Fresne, who met his untimely death at their hands in 1772. To show that these fears were not altogether unfounded, it may be mentioned that the French shipLa Favouriteanchored in the Bay of Islands the day after the petition was signed.[9]He afterwards became Earl of Ripon.[10]Mr. Busby's father had been appointed in 1823 as a Mineral Surveyor and Civil Engineer for the colony of New South Wales, by Earl Bathurst, and Mr. Busby accompanied him as a settler, taking with him capital to the extent of about £1000. At the time of his appointment Mr. Busby was Collector of Internal Revenue and a Member of the Land Board of New South Wales.[11]The Bill was not passed, because it was found that Parliament was legislating in a "foreign country," and this it has no power to do.[12]Mr. Busby's difficulties in this connection were considerably increased by the fact that when British subjects were accused they frequently sheltered themselves under the American flag, saying, "We are Americans, you have no right to interfere with us."—Captain Fitzroy.[13]"After ardent spirits were introduced in the neighbourhood of Hokianga the Christian natives themselves became so sensible of the evils resulting from the use of them, that under the influence of the Missionaries the chiefs assembled and agreed to certain regulations, the effect of which was to prohibit the introduction and sale of ardent spirits. Those regulations received the sanction of the Governor of New South Wales, and were for a time partially carried into effect. Our Missionaries have transmitted a copy of the resolutions adopted at a meeting of the natives at Hokianga for the formation of a Temperance Society. Those resolutions were signed by fifteen native chiefs. One chief who was present declined for a time, but at length he agreed, and also signed them. Another chief remarked that it would be desirable that wine and porter should also be prohibited, for if they were allowed the English would say when the rum casks came that they were wine and porter, and by that means spirits would continue to be smuggled into the river. The later accounts give us reason to fear that notwithstanding these regulations spirits continued to be introduced there in defiance of the laws made by the native chiefs."—Rev. Dr. Beecham before Committee of House of Lords.[14]The British Admiralty agreed to respect and protect the New Zealand ships' registers after the National flag had been hoisted.[15]Korero= talk, debate, discussion.[16]Dr. Marshall, surgeon of H.M.S.Alligator, mentions that during his visit to the district he had become interested in a chief named Hau, who, prior to the voting, asked the Doctor for his opinion, on the designs. The Doctor favoured the one ultimately chosen, and Hau "having discovered how my taste lay, paid me the compliment of adopting it, and canvassed others for their votes also." This influence in all probability decided the election. After cession of sovereignty to the Queen in 1840 this flag was of course superseded by the Union Jack as a National ensign. It was then adopted by the Shaw Savill & Albion Shipping Company, and is now flown by them as their house flag.[17]Kororiroriwas a mixture of flour and water, sweetened with sugar, of which the natives had become very fond. While the feast was in progress word came that Pomare had arrived at the Bay at the head of a large armed party. Mr. Williams was sent to enquire why he had brought arms to a peaceable gathering? He replied, "It is New Zealand custom," and then added, "TheRangatirafrom the warships have their swords, and we ought not for shame to be without our guns," an observation which left little room for an effective rejoinder. Pomare, who was a great stickler for etiquette, was offended because he thought he had not been properly invited, and took this method of showing his displeasure. He was however soon placated by the Missionary.[18]Videhis despatch of November 21, 1834.[19]The Baron has been described as a crotchety enthusiast rather than a knavish schemer.[20]Nēne gave him 5000 acres, which was subsequently reduced by quarrels and quibbles to 1000 acres.[21]Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, in succession to Sir Richard Bourke, in a despatch dated August 1840, speaks of the Declaration, as entirely a measure of Mr. Busby's concoction, and designates it "a silly as well as an unauthorised act—a paper pellet fired off at the Baron de Thierry."[22]The chiefs who signed this document were thoroughly representative of the tribes residing between the North Cape and the latitude of the River Thames.[23]Dr. Jameson concludes his unalluring picture, by the statement: "It is to the Missionary labour only that we can justly attribute the abolition of infanticide, polygamy, and the atrocities of native warfare which have disappeared before the dawn of Christianity."[24]This claim is still the subject of negotiation between the British and United States Governments.[25]Probably the Wentworth Purchase.[26]The deed confirming this transaction is now in the Hocken Collection at Dunedin.[27]"The Missionaries have been successful, but I think a greater effect might be given to them if their minds were relieved from those secular things which press upon them on behalf of their children. If they could devote their lives to the service of Christianity instead of trying to better the condition of their own children. At present they are cultivating their land. To use the words of the Rev. Henry Williams—They are just holding on for their children, seeing no other prospect for them than the cultivation of those lands. They cannot send them home to England, for that would be too expensive; New South Wales would not be desirable for them, and this is their only chance."—Evidence of Mr. John Flatt (formerly a catechist of the C.M.S.) before a Parliamentary Committee.
[1]On one occasion when Lord John Russell was asked by a French Diplomat how much of Australia Britain claimed, he promptly replied, "The whole of it."
[2]As indicating the state into which society had fallen it may be mentioned that one Master of a trading vessel who had no muskets to sell, gave a chief a packet of corrosive sublimate wherewith to destroy his enemies. To correct this condition of affairs a proclamation was published in the New South Wales GovernmentGazettein 1814 appointing the Rev. Mr. Kendall and the chiefs, Ruatara, Hongi and Korokoro, Magistrates at the Bay of Islands, for the purpose of suppressing outrages. This authority was subsequently revoked as being illegal.
[3]"The Rev. Mr. Kendall has received a commission to act as a Magistrate, but it does not appear that he possesses the means of rendering effective assistance to the natives against the oppressions of the crews of European vessels, and of controlling in any degree the intercourse that subsists between them."—Commissioner Bigge to Earl Bathurst, 1823.
[4]This practice was prohibited by the Governor of New South Wales by Proclamation, on November 9, 1814.
[5]Edward Doyle underwent the extreme penalty of the law at Sydney for a burglary committed at the Bay of Islands on June 18, 1836, the sentence being imposed under a statute of George IV.
[6]The Wesleyan mission in New Zealand originated in a visit made to this country in the year 1819 by the Rev. Mr. Leigh, a missionary of the Wesleyan Society then stationed in New South Wales. He made the visit for the benefit of his health on the recommendation of the Rev. Mr. Marsden.
[7]Petition sent to King William through Mr. Yate, per Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, November 16, 1831.
[8]The French were called by the natives "the tribe of Marian" after Captain Marian du Fresne, who met his untimely death at their hands in 1772. To show that these fears were not altogether unfounded, it may be mentioned that the French shipLa Favouriteanchored in the Bay of Islands the day after the petition was signed.
[9]He afterwards became Earl of Ripon.
[10]Mr. Busby's father had been appointed in 1823 as a Mineral Surveyor and Civil Engineer for the colony of New South Wales, by Earl Bathurst, and Mr. Busby accompanied him as a settler, taking with him capital to the extent of about £1000. At the time of his appointment Mr. Busby was Collector of Internal Revenue and a Member of the Land Board of New South Wales.
[11]The Bill was not passed, because it was found that Parliament was legislating in a "foreign country," and this it has no power to do.
[12]Mr. Busby's difficulties in this connection were considerably increased by the fact that when British subjects were accused they frequently sheltered themselves under the American flag, saying, "We are Americans, you have no right to interfere with us."—Captain Fitzroy.
[13]"After ardent spirits were introduced in the neighbourhood of Hokianga the Christian natives themselves became so sensible of the evils resulting from the use of them, that under the influence of the Missionaries the chiefs assembled and agreed to certain regulations, the effect of which was to prohibit the introduction and sale of ardent spirits. Those regulations received the sanction of the Governor of New South Wales, and were for a time partially carried into effect. Our Missionaries have transmitted a copy of the resolutions adopted at a meeting of the natives at Hokianga for the formation of a Temperance Society. Those resolutions were signed by fifteen native chiefs. One chief who was present declined for a time, but at length he agreed, and also signed them. Another chief remarked that it would be desirable that wine and porter should also be prohibited, for if they were allowed the English would say when the rum casks came that they were wine and porter, and by that means spirits would continue to be smuggled into the river. The later accounts give us reason to fear that notwithstanding these regulations spirits continued to be introduced there in defiance of the laws made by the native chiefs."—Rev. Dr. Beecham before Committee of House of Lords.
[14]The British Admiralty agreed to respect and protect the New Zealand ships' registers after the National flag had been hoisted.
[15]Korero= talk, debate, discussion.
[16]Dr. Marshall, surgeon of H.M.S.Alligator, mentions that during his visit to the district he had become interested in a chief named Hau, who, prior to the voting, asked the Doctor for his opinion, on the designs. The Doctor favoured the one ultimately chosen, and Hau "having discovered how my taste lay, paid me the compliment of adopting it, and canvassed others for their votes also." This influence in all probability decided the election. After cession of sovereignty to the Queen in 1840 this flag was of course superseded by the Union Jack as a National ensign. It was then adopted by the Shaw Savill & Albion Shipping Company, and is now flown by them as their house flag.
[17]Kororiroriwas a mixture of flour and water, sweetened with sugar, of which the natives had become very fond. While the feast was in progress word came that Pomare had arrived at the Bay at the head of a large armed party. Mr. Williams was sent to enquire why he had brought arms to a peaceable gathering? He replied, "It is New Zealand custom," and then added, "TheRangatirafrom the warships have their swords, and we ought not for shame to be without our guns," an observation which left little room for an effective rejoinder. Pomare, who was a great stickler for etiquette, was offended because he thought he had not been properly invited, and took this method of showing his displeasure. He was however soon placated by the Missionary.
[18]Videhis despatch of November 21, 1834.
[19]The Baron has been described as a crotchety enthusiast rather than a knavish schemer.
[20]Nēne gave him 5000 acres, which was subsequently reduced by quarrels and quibbles to 1000 acres.
[21]Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, in succession to Sir Richard Bourke, in a despatch dated August 1840, speaks of the Declaration, as entirely a measure of Mr. Busby's concoction, and designates it "a silly as well as an unauthorised act—a paper pellet fired off at the Baron de Thierry."
[22]The chiefs who signed this document were thoroughly representative of the tribes residing between the North Cape and the latitude of the River Thames.
[23]Dr. Jameson concludes his unalluring picture, by the statement: "It is to the Missionary labour only that we can justly attribute the abolition of infanticide, polygamy, and the atrocities of native warfare which have disappeared before the dawn of Christianity."
[24]This claim is still the subject of negotiation between the British and United States Governments.
[25]Probably the Wentworth Purchase.
[26]The deed confirming this transaction is now in the Hocken Collection at Dunedin.
[27]"The Missionaries have been successful, but I think a greater effect might be given to them if their minds were relieved from those secular things which press upon them on behalf of their children. If they could devote their lives to the service of Christianity instead of trying to better the condition of their own children. At present they are cultivating their land. To use the words of the Rev. Henry Williams—They are just holding on for their children, seeing no other prospect for them than the cultivation of those lands. They cannot send them home to England, for that would be too expensive; New South Wales would not be desirable for them, and this is their only chance."—Evidence of Mr. John Flatt (formerly a catechist of the C.M.S.) before a Parliamentary Committee.
Thecry for better Government was thus becoming imperative, and the demand was not a new one. Both the House of Lords and the House of Commons had entered upon exhaustive enquiries into the subject. The former had reported that the responsibility of extending the colonial possessions of the Crown was one that rested solely with the Government, while the latter had declared in spirited terms that "however pressing the nation's need for a vigorous emigration policy, and whatever action the Government might take to meet that need by finding a soil to which its surplus population might retreat, the House would tolerate no scheme which implied violence or fraud in taking possession of such territory." The reference to "surplus population" in the House of Commons' report introduces a new factor into the problem. It indicates internal as well as external pressure; it tells of clamour from the teeming cities, and a rural population discontented with their lot. It suggests that the nation's mind had moved faster than the politicians, and that already many of England's artisans were seeking to escape to some new country where they might live under freer conditions. The popular theory of the political economists of those days was "over population," and the panacea for the existing national poverty was emigration. In spite of the fact that people are the most precious asset a country can ever have, both doctrines found much favour with the different sections of the community whose interest they seemed best to serve; the spirit of colonisationhad got into the air, and the question of finding new fields for the energies of the "surplus" people became a practical issue which no Government could afford to ignore. The necessity for doing something appeared impossible of evasion. Poverty at home and crime unchecked abroad clamoured for redress, but just what to do, or how to do it, was not easy of decision.
Sir Richard Bourke had told the Government in plainest terms that unless they were prepared to give the British Resident more power, and permanently station a ship of war on the coast to support him, it would be more in keeping with the dignity of the nation to withdraw him altogether. To give him more power was an impossibility, unless the Government was prepared to violate the express injunction of the House of Commons and all the precedents by which they had acknowledged the independence of the Maoris. It was therefore not practicable to supply the existing deficiency by extending the jurisdiction of Mr. Busby.
In their dilemma the Ministers turned for light and leading to the comparatively few people then in England who had previous experience of these far-away islands. Amongst these was Captain Hobson, who in 1837 had been sent over in H.M.S.Rattlesnakepell-mell to render what aid he could to British shipping and British interests generally, on news reaching Sydney of serious hostilities between two of the northern tribes.[28]Captain Hobson had on his return furnished the Governor with a report upon the condition of affairs as he found them at the settlements he had visited. He had also entered into the discussion of a scheme for the future government of the country, in which he favoured proceeding upon the plan of the Hudson Bay and East India Companies by establishing trading factories in different parts of the islands,and so fulfilling what he urged had become a solemn duty to apply a remedy for a growing evil. "It has occurred to me," he wrote, "that if factories were established at the Bay of Islands, at Cloudy Bay, and Hokianga, and in other places as the occupation by British subjects proceeds, a sufficient restraint could be constitutionally imposed on the licentious whites, without exciting the jealousy of the New Zealanders or of any other power. I will not presume to enter too deeply into the details of such a measure, but beg simply to suggest that sections of land be purchased, enclosed, and placed within the influence of British jurisdiction as dependencies of this (New South Wales) colony. The heads of factories should be Magistrates, and the chief factor should, in addition, be accredited to the united chiefs of New Zealand as a political agent and consul. All communications with the British Government should take place through the chief factor, with whom alone the local factors should correspond. All British subjects should be required to register themselves and their landed property at the factories. Two or more respectable British residents nearest to each station should hold Commissions of the Peace to assist the factors. Prisons should be constructed within the factories and legally proclaimed in the colony. A treaty should be concluded with the New Zealand chiefs for the recognition of the factories and the protection of British subjects and property. To meet the expenses which the establishment of a system of factories upon the principle I have mentioned would necessarily entail, funds might be obtained from a variety of sources, such as a small fee on the registration of the purchase of land from the natives, on the entry and clearance of British shipping, and a small percentage on goods and produce imported and exported. The great security which would result from this system would, it is conceived, readily dispose the British subjects resident in New Zealand, to conform to such an impost."
After acknowledging the primary need for Imperial legislation to give effect to his suggested policy, he continues:"The benefit which may be supposed to arise from the establishment of factories in New Zealand is not confined to the mere legal protection they are supposed to afford; but we may hope they will be the means of introducing amongst the natives a system of civil Government which may hereafter be adopted and enlarged upon. Nor is it to be overlooked that in times of intestine war they will afford a safe retreat to our fellow-countrymen, who will then become powerful by concentration."
In the estimation of Sir Richard Bourke, Captain Hobson's scheme contained "suggestions of great value," and in transmitting it to the Colonial Office he not only gave it his full endorsement, but justified it because it was in his opinion "neither possible nor desirable to put a stop to the growing intercourse between the English colonies in these seas and New Zealand." He also raised his voice against the neutral policy which was being pursued, for while admitting the failure of the British Residency, he protested that "it would be difficult for His Majesty's or this Government to act for any length of time upon the stern principle of non-interference if the lives and property of British subjects appeared to be in jeopardy. Any plan, therefore, by which the intercourse may be sufficiently regulated, and usurpation, real or apparent, avoided, is well worthy of serious consideration."
Simultaneously with Captain Hobson's scheme, was sent a letter from Mr. Busby, written while theRattlesnakewas in New Zealand waters. In this communication the Resident also endeavoured, for the guidance of Ministers, to reduce to a system a scheme of government based upon his several years' experience of the people and the country. Governor Bourke evidently looked upon it with a less favourable eye than he did upon the report of the naval officer, and commended it merely as advancing "suggestions that were not without value."
This letter must, however, be regarded by all historians as the more valuable of the two, for in it will be found the germ of the treaty which was afterwards adopted by bothPakehaand Maori as the basis upon which NewZealand was taken into the British Empire; upon which her past progress has been built, and her future prosperity must depend.
In the previous year (1836) Mr. Busby had made a somewhat similar suggestion, founded upon the principle sanctioned by the Treaty of Paris in the case of Great Britain and the Ionian Isles, and also applied in various instances on Britain's Indian frontier. That principle recognised "a protecting state administering in chief the affairs of another State in trust for the inhabitants," and this condition he claimed could be, with but slight modification, applied to New Zealand both economically and efficiently. Mr. Busby was by no means of the opinion, afterwards so contemptuously expressed by Sir George Gipps, that the native Declaration of Independence was "a paper pellet fired off at Baron de Thierry." On the contrary, he attached considerable importance to it, proposing to make it the authority on which the chiefs were entitled to enter into diplomatic relations with Great Britain for the cession of their administrative rights.
"The chiefs who were parties to the articles of Confederation, and to the Declaration of Independence," he wrote, "together with those who subsequently adhered to it, include, with very few exceptions, the whole of the chiefs of influence in the northern parts of the Islands, and the adhesion of the remainder could at any time be procured. Whatever acts approaching to acts of sovereignty or government have been exercised in the country, have been exercised by these chiefs in their individual capacity, as relates to their own people, and in their collective capacity as relates to their negotiations with the British Government, the only Government with which the chiefs or people of New Zealand have had any relations of a diplomatic character. The articles of Confederation having centralised the powers of sovereignty bothde jureandde factoby the several chiefs, and having established and declared the basis of a constitution of government founded upon the union of those powers, I cannot, Ithink, greatly err in assuming that the congress of chiefs, the depositing of the powers of the State, as declared by its constitution, is competent to become a party to a treaty with a foreign power, and to avail itself of foreign assistance in reducing the country under its authority to order, and this principle being once admitted all difficulty appears to me to vanish."
It did not, however, enter into the proposal of Mr. Busby that the British Government should be both in theory and in fact the administrative authority. He still contemplated the retention of the federated chiefs as the nominal source of power, with himself as its presiding genius. "In theory and ostensibly the government would be that of the confederated chiefs, but in reality it must necessarily be that of the protecting power. The chiefs would meet annually, or oftener, and nominally enact the laws proposed to them, but in truth the present race of chiefs could not be entrusted with any discretion whatever in the adoption or rejection of any measure that might be submitted to them."
He proposed to constitute the chiefs guardians of the peace and public morals, and to pay them for their services. Schools were to be established, and the Missionaries and catechists were, as far as their duties would permit, to be appointed Justices of the Peace, whose decisions were, if needs must, to be supported by a military force. Even a periodical newspaper was provided for as a means of "instructing the natives in those relative duties of the people and their rulers, which are familiar to all ranks of the population under established Government, but of which the New Zealanders have scarcely yet formed an idea." Revenue was to be raised by an impost on shipping and a duty upon spirits and tobacco. Indeed, so modest was his contemplated civil establishment that he estimated an expenditure of not more than £1000 per annum would be sufficient to maintain it in adequate splendour. All existing land claims were to be settled by an independent commission, and after that all titles were to be void unless procured through the Government,whose special duty it would be to see that ample reserves were retained for the natives.
Mr. Busby, in submitting these proposals, ventured to suggest that they might be presumed to give an effective degree of protection to the British subjects resident in New Zealand, without infringing on the rights of the New Zealanders as an independent people and at the same time "satisfy the reasonable scruples of a foreign Government." This latter condition was one that in maturing their plans the British Cabinet could not leave out of their consideration; for already both France and America were factors to be counted upon in the South Pacific, and might with almost equal justice claim a share in the sovereignty of the country.
The Government were still wrestling with the perplexities of the position when the New Zealand Association rose into being, and served to still further complicate the issues. There was an opinion in political circles, afterwards crystallised into a definite recommendation by the House of Lords, that the colonisation of New Zealand was the duty of the State, if it was Britain's duty at all, but private enterprise had never been wholly disassociated from the scheme.[29]As far back as 1825 a New Zealand Company, "acting with the sanction and encouragement of the Government," had been formed under Lord Durham, and had acquired an estate on the banks of the HokiangaRiver. This settlement, under Captain Heard, had been of the most fugitive character; but the land still remained more or less an asset, and subsequently was acquired by the New Zealand Association, founded in 1837 by the Hon. Francis Baring, M.P. for Sheffield, in conjunction with other gentlemen prominent in English public life of that day. This Association grew out of an enquiry made at the instance of the House of Commons by a committee called the Committee on Colonial Lands, but the real subject of the enquiry was colonisation. One of the principal witnesses was Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who gave some account of the then existing state of New Zealand, and spoke of it as a country extremely eligible for the purpose of British colonisation, provided some regular system should be adopted in place of the lawless practices that were then rampant. In consequence of that statement, a member of the committee spoke to him upon the subject of colonising New Zealand. Subsequently other gentlemen were admitted to their discussions, and as a result of their joint deliberations they determined to form an Association for the purpose of obtaining from Parliament (for Parliamentary aid was considered essential) some regulation both for the colonisation and the government of the Islands, to take the place of the irregular practices that were then on foot.
There is little doubt that in its inception the Association had a large measure of philanthropy underlying its principles, for it was the outcome of the unsatisfactory social conditions existing in England at that period. The scheme attracted to its aid men of wealth and culture, and under the organising genius of Edward Gibbon Wakefield it acquired an influence, both social and political, which no government could safely regard with indifference.[30]
To secure New Zealand as a British possession; to find a profitable investment for British capital; and to provide employment and opportunity for England's idlelabour were the nominal objects for which the Association had been formed. To give these purposes practical effect the Association had, under the guiding hand of Wakefield, formulated definite theories upon the subject of colonisation; and to the end that their ideals might be achieved they sought the assistance of the Government and the sanction of Parliament.
On a day in June 1837 they secured an interview with the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, whom they found attended by Lord Howick, a member of the Government, though not of the Colonial Office, and who was present, so they were told, in the character of an adviser on the subject, he having paid considerable attention to colonial problems. The aims and purposes of the Association were laid before the Ministers by Mr. Baring, chairman of the society, and the result of the deputation was an assurance from the Premier that for himself he saw no objection to the scheme of the Association, and that he perceived in some of their purposes a laudable object, but that not being familiarly conversant with such subjects he did not care to do more than to express his general approbation, and to refer the deputation for the discussion of all matters of detail to Lord Howick, who was well informed on all such questions, and who possessed, in the office which he held, as much leisure as would enable him to attend to the subject. The committee was highly satisfied with their interview, and communicated in various ways with Lord Howick upon the details of their plan, amongst other things submitting to him a draft of the Bill which they proposed to introduce into the House of Commons. Lord Howick examined the Bill, and both in conversation and in writing suggested various modifications, which though not universally approved by the promoters, were adopted in their entirety rather than risk the loss of that influence which they considered essential to the success of their plan—the assistance of the Executive Government. The death of the King, William IV., at this juncture, put a sudden termination to their political proceedings; but the outlook for their negotiation appearedso satisfactory that, pending the assembly of the new Parliament, they published an invitation to all persons so disposed to join the Association for the purpose of emigrating to New Zealand. The publication of this resolution drew to their ranks a large body of wealthy and influential people; and when Parliament met again in December of the same year a very considerable number of persons had expressed their intention of settling in the new colony. Accordingly the committee, on December 13, again waited on Lord Melbourne with a view to obtaining his final approval upon the measure which they proposed to submit to the Commons. As at the previous interview, the object of the Association in seeking this second conference was stated by Mr. Baring, when Lord Melbourne, who appeared to have forgotten what had passed on the former occasion, referred the deputation to Lord Glenelg, who was present as Colonial Minister.
This gentleman at once adopted an attitude of hostility to the whole proposal, his objections being primarily that the jealousy of foreign powers might be excited by the extension of British colonies; that England had colonies enough; that they were very expensive to govern and to manage; and that they were not of sufficient value to make it worth while to increase their number.[31]The rebuttal of these unexpected objections involved a discussion of over an hour, during which considerable feeling was displayed by some of the gentlemen present, who saw in the attitude of the Minister a grim prospect of their scheme being thwarted. Several of these had, during the interval since the previous interview, disposed of their property and quitted professions in which they were engaged, with a view to emigrating, and they now felt very strongly the position in which they were placed by the withdrawal of the Ministerial approval which they believed their enterprise was to receive. One of these was described to Lord Melbourne as having wound up his affairs with a view to emigrating, and as being likelyto suffer very seriously from now finding himself unable to carry his plan into effect. Lord Melbourne, not knowing that he was present, said that such an individual must be mad. The gentleman immediately rose and, facing the Premier, said that he was the madman. This created a distinctly dramatic situation, and the conference was on the point of breaking up in excitement and disorder when Lord Melbourne was reminded of his former sympathetic reception of the Association's proposals, whereupon he held a further brief consultation with the leaders of the deputation, and gave them to understand that the matter would be again considered by the Government, and that if they would wait upon Lord Glenelg in a week's time they would get an answer more to their satisfaction. Pursuant to that arrangement, the same body of persons waited on the Colonial Secretary on that day week (Wednesday, December 20), when Lord Glenelg informed them that the subject of the colonisation of New Zealand had been reconsidered by the Cabinet, and that circumstances which had occurred during the interval had induced Ministers to think that their former view was not the correct one. What had happened to so influence the Ministerial mind was the receipt of those important despatches from Mr. Busby, the British Resident, and from Captain Hobson, in which both these officers urged the need for a more vigorous policy on the part of the Colonial Office in its relations with New Zealand. The opinions of the Government, therefore, now approximated somewhat more closely to those of the Association, but there was still some hesitancy in proceeding by way of Act of Parliament. The Colonial Department, Lord Glenelg said, had fully considered the matter, and were satisfied that the measures desired might be carried into complete effect without applying to Parliament at all; and that they were consequently prepared, in the exercise of the power of the Crown vested in the Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, to give to the Association a Charter of Incorporation, being a Charter of government similar to those which were granted in the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries to the companies which founded the thirteen great colonies in America. Nine days after this interview the Association received an official letter from Lord Glenelg, reiterating his offer of a Charter, and calling upon the committee to form their members into a Joint-Stock Company with a subscribed capital sufficient to qualify them for the Charter he proposed to issue. This proposition was wholly unacceptable to the Association for two vital reasons. They had from the beginning declared that they intended to take no private pecuniary interest in the undertaking, and yet in spite of their care in this direction they had been very untruly charged before the public with having no other object than that of private pecuniary gain for themselves. Again some of their most influential leaders were persons, such as distinguished clergymen of the Established Church, holding preferment, who were almost disqualified by that circumstance from becoming members of a Joint-Stock Company, and, therefore, it was unanimously resolved that the offer of the Colonial Secretary could not be accepted. But though this avenue of procedure was closed there was still another open to them, and it was determined to procure, if possible, the passage of a Bill through Parliament, based upon the plan which they had originally placed before the Government. Such a Bill was brought into the House of Commons by Mr. Baring, but owing to the opposition of the Ministers, including Lord Howick,[32]and the widespread impression that the Association was nothing better than a land-sharking Company, the measure was defeated by a large majority.