INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
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REMINISCENCES
OF
TWELVE MONTHS' SERVICE
IN
NEW ZEALAND.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
BEFORE entering on the subject which was the all-important one on my arrival in New Zealand in H. M. S. Calliope, in 1845--namely, the native rebellion, or the war between the intruders and excluders--I will endeavour, from the most authentic information, to give a slight sketch of the commencement and gradual growth of the ill-feeling, and the consequent calamitous events which have so unfor-
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tunately taken place, between the aborigines of New Zealand and our own countrymen in that colony.
Previous to New Zealand becoming a British colony, England acknowledged it as a free state, and, in compliance with the requests of a confederation of chiefs, offered to afford it protection from foreign aggression. While thus allied, the New Zealand Company sent out a number of emigrants, under the superintendence of an agent, to form a colony on the shores of these extensive islands, leaving the selection of a locality to the agent and principal settlers. The only Europeans in the country prior to this, were those engaged in the whale fisheries, a few sawyers from Sydney, and a number of escaped convicts from the latter place and Van Dieman's Land, who were living a desultory life, without laws or any form of government, mingling with the natives and adopting most of their customs. The early settlers, on leaving England, had entered into
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EARLY SETTLERS.
an agreement to live under a voluntarily constituted authority of their own selection from among themselves. This "happy-family" kind of republic was knocked on the head soon after the arrival of Captain Hobson, as Lieutenant-Governor; who, on assuming office, hearing of some of the acts of these self-constituted magistrates, appears to have considered them guilty of high treason, and was very indignant at their presumption. The bulk of the settlers, who were at this time governing themselves on the shores of Cook's Straits, amounted to 14,000, living together without the benefit of an authorised governor; consequently the peaceable portion were subject to many annoyances from the want of laws and discipline, during which time his Excellency was at the other end of the island, some 800 miles distant, with no one but his personal staff to govern. This, and the subsequent selection of Auckland as the seat of government (at the time a serious inconve-
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nience to the settlers, from its distance from the port where they had located themselves), caused a deadly feud between the Governor and the Company, which has seriously impeded the advancement of the colony.
A demonstration on the part of France to form a penal settlement in some part of these islands, seems to have been the cause of our assuming the sovereignty over what we had previously considered a free state. Whether our claim by purchase or discovery is the soundest, I will not attempt to say; but it is a very general opinion amongst the natives, particularly those in the southern provinces, that we have gradually assumed the dominion of their country without having any legal claim to such power. From the very earliest date of which we have any accounts of these people, up to the present time, I can find no instance of their having gratuitously committed any of the many outrages of which they have been guilty. Although they have
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CONDUCT TO THE NATIVES.
from time to time committed the most shocking massacres upon what appeared to us slight provocation, still we must take into consideration their natural ferocity in their dealings with each other, and the little restraint they have ever been accustomed to put upon their worst passions when once roused; and, at the same time, divesting ourselves of all prejudice, look fairly at the conduct of our own unhappy countrymen who were the sufferers in these melancholy tragedies.
If we go back as far as 1769, we find that most of the mishaps which befel Captain Cook's people were caused by the thoughtlessness of some of his own party. In mentioning a skirmish which took place between himself and some of the New Zealanders, who had attacked him, imagining that he came to make war on them, he says-- "I had much trouble to restrain the seamen and marines, who, either from fear or love of mischief, showed as much impatience to destroy these people as
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a sportsman would to kill his game." The disposition to treat this people less as fellow-creatures than as curious animals, has made them as suspicious of us and our good faith as we are of them.
A French navigator, Monsieur De Surville, who visited New Zealand at the same time as Cook (1769), was guilty of a most unwarrantable piece of cruelty and ingratitude towards these unsuspecting savages, after having received great kindness from them: a part of his crew, who were sick, and landed for the benefit of their health, lived on the bounty of the natives, for which the chief would receive no remuneration. He had missed a small boat, which he believed the natives had stolen. In consequence, he made a prisoner of the very chief who had liberally entertained his sick crew; and, not satisfied with that, burnt down the village where they had been lodged. The chief soon afterwards died on board the ship.
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IMPOLITIC TREATMENT.
In 1810, the ship Boyd was at Wangaroar, procuring spars; the captain had been rather too hasty in resenting some slight theft, as well as cruel and impolitic in punishing a New Zealander, whom he had brought from New South Wales, just before he was landed. This man, smarting from his stripes, and burning with a savage desire to revenge his dishonourable treatment, used all his eloquence to excite his friends to wipe out the stain in the white man's blood. He was backed by a chief of some note who had twice visited Sydney, and who had that morning called on the captain of the ill-fated Boyd to pay his respects to him, but had been badly received, having been desired to go away and not trouble him, as he was busy. The proud old savage (who had been a constant guest at the Governor's table at Port Jackson) was highly offended at this treatment, immediately left the cabin, and after stamping a few minutes on the deck, went into his canoe. From the accounts of
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the savages, it appears that the captain landed soon after this, when he was met by the friends of the man whom he had punished, as well as the individual himself. He was only armed with his fowling-piece; the natives rushed on him, when he fired and killed a child, and was immediately afterwards dispatched. In the mean time the ship was taken possession of by the chief whose dignity had been hurt by his rude reception. Blood having been once shed, a horrible scene ensued; the unsuspecting sailors falling an easy prey to their merciless enemies. The writer of this narrative appears to think that, had the unfortunate captain acted with more discretion, in giving offence to these untamed and highly-excitable people, this sacrifice of life might have been avoided, as nothing of the sort appears to have been premeditated.
Another traveller, in speaking of a similar catastrophe, says, that although no immediate provocation had been received, a hundred of
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DOUBTFUL TITLE TO LAND.
the natives had been murdered at different times by the crews of the different European ships which had visited the place where this occurred--these people, from their thoughtless cruelty, bringing a dreadful retribution on their innocent countrymen. In this way all confidence seems to have been destroyed on both sides. And when we consider who and what the early European visitors to this colony were, we cannot be so surprised at the length of time it has taken to bring about anything like a mutual good understanding.
Of later years the means used by us to get possession of large tracts of land, has in many instances proved most clearly to the natives that they have been taken advantage of; for it is astonishing how soon and how well they understand anything in which their own interests are concerned. Immediately New Zealand became a British colony, the value of land was increased, and every one on the spot coveted a few acres of the new colony. Many
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people from Sydney came down in a hurry, to drive a hard bargain with the natives; knowing that, however lame their claims might be, possession was the great consideration. The missionaries are also accused with having exerted their influence in the land-jobbing way. Unfortunately, in this scramble, the different parties opposed each other, by which all suffered. The Government also purchased large tracts of land, so far from the Company's settlement that the interest of these two places became quite opposite; and whatever was done by the Government to benefit the settlement forming under their patronage, depreciated the value of its rival. This rivalry had the worst effect on the natives; the price of land in the immediate neighbourhood of Auckland was raised to such an exorbitant sum, that the natives, thinking from this that they had been cheated, made new demands upon those who had already purchased land at what they then con-
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RIVAL SETTLEMENTS.
sidered a fair price. Appeals, in consequence, were made to the authorities, to decide what land had been fairly purchased, and what had not. The verdict was frequently given against the Europeans, which, though just in some cases, had the most pernicious effect on the whole colony; for the natives, once finding that it was possible to obtain more payment for their land, considered themselves entitled to repayment for the whole.
The natives, with their usual cunning, soon discovered that the local Government had no friendly disposition towards the Company; and when Mr. Spain, the land commissioner, was conducting the inquiry and settling the titles to the land, lasting animosities began between the two races, through a few individuals brought into such immediate opposition, that no decision could have prevented one party or the other fancying himself injured. The savage being placed in the witness-box, and knowing at the time that if he made out that
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he misunderstood the agreement which he had entered into, he should receive a fresh lot of muskets and tobacco, found this a greater temptation than his honest truth was proof against. The evidence of natives generally, with the exception of a chief or two, simply served to confuse a very plain transaction; and the very nature of the rights to be determined rendered any satisfactory result impossible, even on the best evidence. One tribe wanted payment, having occupied the land which they were told gave them a right; another tribe, who had conquered the former occupants, and only permitted them to reside on their land, advanced another claim; a third tribe declared that they had migrated voluntarily from the spot in former times, and had a right to return. Take, for instance, the claim of Rauparaha (a man who has done about as much harm in the colony as any savage well could) to the valley of Wairou, which led to the deplorable massacre which I shall have to mention elsewhere.
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RAUPARAHA.
Rauparaha, originally from the interior of the Northern Island, succeeded in getting a footing on the north shore of Cook's Strait, and ultimately planted himself on a small island in the middle of that channel. There he watched his opportunity, stole over with his band to the opposite coast, and after some fighting, succeeded in destroying man, woman, and child of the tribe which he found at Wairou. He had never dwelt there, or anywhere else in the Middle Island; he and his people had no habitation there. For this claim, such as it was, he had been paid; but, hearing that there was a chance of getting more for his ill-gotten property, he determined on preventing the purchasers from taking possession until the land commissioner had decided whether the sum he had received was sufficient. Soon after it was known that no proceedings were to be taken against Rauparaha and the others concerned in this horrible transaction (not even the form of a trial to pronounce who were wrong and
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who were right), other maories (natives) equally willing to receive more payment for what they had already sold, repossessed themselves of portions of land far advanced in cultivation by the European occupiers. Had proper steps been taken at once to ascertain how far they were justified (for in some cases squatters had taken temporary possession with no other claim than that of occupation), the subsequent disasters might have been in a great measure prevented; but the feeble authorities allowing these irregularities to proceed unnoticed, caused the aggrieved settlers to take the law in their own hands, as far as retaining the land they had worked so hard to bring into its present state; for in some instances they had been warned to quit their houses, while the natives gained confidence, as every claim advanced by them was tacitly allowed to be just. The consequence of all this was, that some of our sturdy countrymen, who could not brook these
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JOHN HEKI.
repeated trials of patience, resented pretty sharply the trespasses of the greedy maories; for which, however, they were doomed to suffer bitterly, many being murdered--in some instances whole families falling a sacrifice to the woful mismanagement which, up to the arrival of Captain Grey, had been carried on. Such was the case of the Company's settlers on our arrival at Wellington.
The disturbances in the Bay of Islands had been brought about by the meddling of some ill-disposed Europeans, who, through jealousy of a party of their own countrymen, appear to have incited the turbulent John Heki to make his extraordinary attack on the flag-staff at Kororarika. The missionaries were roundly accused of favouring these ill-disposed natives, as they were supposed to be unwilling to sanction the acquisition of so much land in their own immediate neighbourhood by the settlers, as, previously to their arrival, the whole surrounding country had been under their control.
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In what I shall have to say of John Heki and the other chiefs, of whose characters I have given a slight sketch in the next chapter, it will be seen that the civilised and Christian Heki was the instigator of all the ill-doings in that part of the island. It was to keep him in check that troops were first sent to the Bay of Islands; and, unfortunately, the number being so small allowed him to hold them, and the authorities who sent them, in contempt; this had the effect of strengthening Heki's position, and procuring him many more followers, who thus had time given them to prepare to cope with the military force which it was afterwards necessary to send, in order to prevent the whole of the white population from being murdered or driven from the island. A breach of faith on the part of the English, during some negotiations between them and the natives, also produced the worst consequences. At this crisis, Pomare, a chief of some note, being invited on board an
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KORORARIKA.
English man-of-war to discuss the point at variance, was detained as a prisoner; which impolitic action the natives have never forgotten. The fall of Kororarika, which was the worst of the many misfortunes attending the first military operations in this colony, unfortunately strengthened the erroneous impression which the natives had formed of our skill in warfare; the termination of the melancholy encounter between the natives and a party of settlers, on the plains of Wairou, having previously become a matter of boast amongst the maories throughout the whole country.
In the early days of the government of New Zealand by us (1840), a treaty was made with the natives, the original intention of which was to prevent any maories from being deprived of their land by our grasping countrymen, and also to secure to them the unmolested exercise of their manners and customs; and notwithstanding the many en-
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croachments which from time to time have been made by us on the original treaty, and which the maories have so firmly resisted, we have been obliged to fall back on it. The natural consequences of an established government at first checked the traffic between the natives and the whale ships, and made them both feel the inconvenience of such restrictions as a custom-house, magistrates, police, &c, imposed upon their hitherto free trade. The crews of the numerous whalers felt these restrictions even more than the natives, and urged the latter to stand out against these invasions of their freedom. They found ready listeners in John Heki, his uncle Kawiti, and Pomare, in the Bay of Islands, who were all interested in this matter, having previously been in the habit of supplying ships after a long sea voyage with the different requisites, receiving contraband goods in payment. The actions of Bruce, Wallace, and other patriots, were cited by these mischievous
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HATRED OF ENGLISH FLAG.
Europeans to inflame the minds of those excitable people. The fate of the aborigines of the neighbouring colony, as a dreadful example of what they would come to, was also held out as an inducement to them to resist the display of the English flag, which they were led to believe was the badge of their slavery. The war against the flag-staff, mentioned in the succeeding chapter, in the sketch I have given of John Heki's character, was carried on by the natives with the greatest perseverance, and the flag-staff frequently cut down, even after a block-house had been built near it, and a party of soldiers stationed there for its protection. The attack on Kororarika, which their success in the previous aggressions encouraged them to attempt, was fatal in its termination to the peace of the Bay of Islands. The arrangements appear to have been well made, and the town was surprised at daylight, and, much to their own astonishment, fell into their hands.
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After a sauve qui peut retreat of the settlers, their intention at first seems to have been directed principally to the custom-house, which they were determined to destroy, with the obnoxious "flag-staff," both of which they succeeded in doing; and maybe, had they not met with a severe handling in the town from the Hazard's ship's company, who, with their gallant commander, fought desperately, endeavouring to save the place, they might have been contented with the destruction of these: as it was, in the savage delirium of victory, the town was burnt to the ground. However, in the midst of all this, many instances of disinterestedness were exhibited by the natives. Heki himself, whilst the fighting was going on, escorted the signalman's wife from the hill on which the flagstaff stood, through the town, and delivered her in safety into the hands of her friends. Her child was killed by an accidental shot. The inhabitants were invited to come back before
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ARRIVAL OF TROOPS.
the place was destroyed, as I shall have to mention elsewhere.
After this unlucky termination of the petty quarrels between the two races, the Kororarika people had to be shipped off to Auckland to find homes where they best might, many of them entirely dependent on the generosity of their fellow-settlers for support. Troops were now sent for from Sydney, and ordered to the Bay of Islands; H. M. S. North Star also arrived from China. Skirmishing now took place frequently, with varied success, between the troops and the rebels; the former being reinforced by a party of natives, who, having an old feud against Kawiti and his tribe, were glad of the opportunity of showing their loyalty, and gratifying their feelings of revenge-- so powerful in all savages. Kawiti retired to his fortified pahs, out of which he was driven with great difficulty, from the want of artillery, as well as from the mistaken notions
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which the military commandant had formed of their strength. Upon one occasion the troops being marched up to storm one of these stockades, lost a third of their number in a few minutes, without making any impression on the tough palisading of this stockade. Artillery from the ships was brought to bear on this place before the enemy could be dislodged. On another occasion the soldiers got at them with the bayonet, which they used with fatal effect, being one of the only instances in which our success was anything like decisive; ever since which the maories have avoided encountering this formidable weapon in the hands of disciplined men. Kawiti and Heki, finding that they were losing ground, determined to make a last stand on a hill, the most inaccessible they could find, on which they built a stockade, the construction of which did them the greatest credit, as well as the selection of the locality. A description of this
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KAWITI'S STOCKADE.
fortification I have given farther on. The British, with their native allies, had just taken up their position on a hill near this stronghold, and active preparations were being made for storming it, on the arrival of the naval force.
