CHAPTER XL. 1861.
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CHAPTER XL
1861.
"Who pants for glory finds but short repose,
A breath revives him or a breath o'erthrows."
THE third New Zealand Parliament, now numbering fifty-three members--twenty-six of whom were new men--met, for the first time, in Auckland, on Monday, June the 3rd, 1861. Only thirty-five members presented themselves to be sworn in on that day. All the Wellington members were absent, having been delayed in their passage by an accident to the Stormbird.
Notwithstanding a very courageous and vigorous maiden speech from the young member for the town of Onehunga, George Maurice O'Rorke, and regardless of the public promise well known to have been made to the Picton electors by Dr. Monro, that gentleman was elected Speaker before the Wellington members had been able to take their seats. Mr. O'Rorke would have supported the Doctor, and probably the Wellington members would have done so too; but Mr. O'Rorke very properly objected to a proceeding that deprived a large and important portion of the members, who were absent through no fault of their own, from any voice in an election of so much importance to both sides of the House. The Doctor was proposed by Mr. F. Dillon Bell and seconded by Mr. Carleton. No other candidate being proposed, he was declared duly elected. Before sitting down in the chair His Honour
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said, "I will not attempt to repay you for the honour you have conferred upon me in the ready coin of promises which are so easy to make, and unfortunately so difficult of performance."
His Honour was handsomely congratulated by the Premier, who claimed to have known him for twenty years; and his appointment was accepted with more than usual pleasure by the Governor, who said, "I congratulate the House of Representatives on the choice which in your instance they have made of a Speaker, and readily confirm their choice."
The opening speech of the Governor was hopelessly unconciliatory and bombastic in its tone. If all the Maoris in New Zealand had been in iron cages or cringing at his feet, or if Wiremu Kingi's claim to the Waitara block had been impartially proved to be baseless, fraudulent and presumptuous, the Governor could not have offered the Maoris terms of peace more insulting, more incomprehensible or impossible than those which are thus described by himself in this speech to Parliament:--
"The terms offered to the Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes will be laid before you. Their aggravated offences can only be pardoned on their giving such tangible proofs of submission as will at once afford a means of reparation for their unprovoked aggressions, and be a memorial to themselves of the punishment due to lawless violence.
"The declaration which I have made to the Waikato tribes will also be laid before you. It requires submission without reserve to the Queen's sovereignty and to the authority of the law; whilst from those who have taken up arms, I have insisted upon restitution of plunder, and upon compensation for losses sustained at their hands by Her Majesty's subjects, Native or European."
Even the bellicose Sir Osbourne Gibbes, who clamoured for war and denounced all talk of peace, was obliged to admit that nothing could "be so absurd as an idea which involved the restoration of the thousands of cattle and of sheep which had been destroyed or consumed by the rebels."
After all the scorn that had been poured upon the possibility of any honest claim to the Waitara block by
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Wiremu Kingi, the Governor was now made to express, in a most laboriously worded paragraph, his willingness to have Wiremu Kingi's right to the Waitara block investigated from "the point at which it was forcibly interrupted."
Mr. Swainson took this part of the speech in hand with his usual power of refined satire, and said, "He must express his admiration of the moral courage displayed by the Governor in thus publicly making the avowal; and he felt assured that the same manly spirit which had dictated that avowal would secure that the true points at issue would be fully inquired into, and that the inquiry would be submitted to a tribunal to be so constituted as to deserve the public confidence."
Although not one of the twenty-six new members, Mr. Jollie, the member for Timaru, was selected by the Ministers to prepare and to propose in the House the Address in Reply. He was a practised penman, accustomed to draw up formal documents, an eager seeker for place and patronage, and as such, much too heavy-handed with his flattery. He had, in the previous session, given utterance to a high-flown speech on the Maori War. Such a man was not well chosen for such a task at such a critical time; as he was sure to overdo the part assigned to him--to hold the Governor up too high, and to trample too thoughtlessly on the Maori character of which he was so utterly ignorant. He told the House that the Governor's only fault was his excessive humanity; that General Cameron was a man of experience and of rare ability; that his constituents in the South Island (only twenty of whom had voted for him) were quite willing to bear the expense of the war, "but the indispensable condition is that you seize the present opportunity and take immediate action; that you put away mere palliatives and do really something which will end the present disturbance and put upon a different footing the relations which exist between us and the natives." He described Wiremu Kingi as a sulky, ungrateful savage, ever ready to side with the enemies of the Queen, and added;--
"Marauders and murderers like those men are not likely to observe any terms. I am sure that nothing we wish to exact from them will be obtained but by compulsion; we
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may compel by the sight of the axe, the hangman, or by a charge of bayonets, but not otherwise--the proper way to deal with them is in arms. We shall require something of the fire and energy of Napier in his conquest of Scinde, and, as in the conquest of ancient Britain, the varied genius, the patient endurance and indomitable valour of Agricola. But, in accomplishing these results, you will be conferring permanent benefits not only on the Colony, but also on the Imperial Government and will be blessed by your remotest posterity."
There was perhaps no man in the House so very far from being either a Napier or an Agricola as Mr. Jollie. He had never been braced in the pure air of an open country, and knew as little about the surroundings of a country settler's life as he knew of the Maori character. Mr. Fox, on the other hand, whose courage was on a par with his humanity, and decidedly greater than his caution, was, through all his life, a constant traveller who knew every feature of the country, and, by frequent friendly contact with the Maoris, was well-informed on every phase of their character, and well-understood how many thousands of men, women, and children in New Zealand were entirely at their mercy. In a contemptuous notice of Mr. J ollie's "tall talk" he said:--
"As a representative from a province containing a large number of Natives, he must protest against the language used by the honourable member who moved the Address--that the Natives were men disloyal to the British supremacy, opposed to the introduction of our laws, and that a number were desirous of driving the settlers out of the country. He conscientiously believed there was not a word of truth in it. He believed the honourable gentleman was partly misled by trading politicians, and partly also from a want of local knowledge; for it was a notorious fact that honourable gentlemen from the south were deplorably ignorant of northern affairs.......... He had had the honour of an interview with His Excellency yesterday, with the other representatives from his province, on the subject of the colonial defences; and the result of that interview was to impress upon him the fact that the Executive were not in a
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position to 'carry into effect measures necessary for the maintenance of Her Majesty's authority in these Islands, and for the suppression of armed insurrection.'......... The conclusion at which His Excellency had arrived at the interview to which he (Mr. Fox) had referred was:-- That, with the force at his disposal or that might be placed at his disposal, he could protect the centres of population, but must leave the settlers at the outposts to protect themselves as they could, or else take refuge in the large towns so guarded. He (Mr. Fox) believed that, in the event of a general war on the King party, they were in a position literally and absolutely to do nothing more. And not only were they short of troops, but, as regarded the province to which he belonged, they were without the means of protecting themselves. There were twelve thousand souls distributed over an area of seven million acres, living in small hamlets and scattered communities, at a great distance from the centres that were to be protected by the troops. Of this population four thousand were capable of bearing arms; and yet there were only eleven hundred stand of arms for the whole of the people. There was nothing for it, therefore, in the event of a general war on the King movement, but for the out-settlers to flee to the towns of Wellington and Wanganui and seek protection under the guns of the forts. That would not be, he contended, maintaining Her Majesty's supremacy or putting down armed insurrection."
The reckless proposals of the ever-improvident and incapable Governor, as expressed at this interview with the Wellington members, are more fully narrated by Mr. Fox in his War in New Zealand, written five years later. As there could be no higher authority than Mr. Fox on this subject, we quote his own words:--
"Immediately after the truce was made, in May, 1861, the Governor called on the natives by proclamation to make submission and take the oath of allegiance. Very few did; and, as the year wore on, he made his intention known of invading Waikato to compel submission, and punish those tribes which had joined in the Taranaki disturbances. The Assembly met again in June, 1861. It
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was now winter; but by September (the New Zealand spring) it was understood operations would commence. General Cameron had arrived, and had expressed his anxiety to find some employment for his soldiers. To the old colonists of the Northern Island the prospect was most gloomy, particularly to those in its southern portion. We were well aware of the preparations which the natives had made for war. We knew that we ourselves were entirely unprepared, almost without arms, untrained, unorganized, and scattered over large tracts, with our families and properties exposed to attack on every side. The Wellington members sought an interview with the Governor, and asked him if it was true that he intended to invade Waikato. He said it was, and that he had no doubt that the first shot fired there would be the signal for a general rising all over the island. We called his attention to our unprepared and unprotected state. He said we must build redoubts and defend ourselves, as the colonists at Taranaki had done. As that settlement had been swept as bare as the floor, we thought this a poor prospect, and told him so. He replied that 'War is not made with rosewater.' After this we said no more, though we thought a good deal; for it appeared to us that the colonisation of twenty years was about to be destroyed, and that ruin was preparing for the colonists of the northern island. And had the intended invasion of Waikato been attempted with the small military force under General Cameron's command, and with the colony so unprepared as it was at that date, nothing but the most fearful disasters could have ensued. If, with nearly 15,000 men, and two years' preparation, he was barely able to drive back the invading Waikatos from Auckland in 1863, what would have been our position if the invasion of their country had been attempted by us with a force of barely 3000 men, and the colony altogether unprepared? We may well be thankful that we were spared the calamities that must have inevitably followed.
"Before, however, the season was sufficiently advanced to admit of military operations, two important changes took place. The War Ministry was defeated in the Assembly,
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and one which its opponents termed "the Peace-at-any-price Ministry" took its place. The majority which had supported the Governor in what he had done had evidently no confidence in what he was about to do. As, however, he would, in invading Waikato, have acted on his own responsibility as an imperial officer, the change of Ministry would probably have had little effect but for the other event referred to. This was his own removal from the Government. The Home Government found the position of the colony becoming serious. It determined to entrust the reins to other hands, and by a despatch full of complimentary language, expressing approval of what he had done, and continued confidence in him, the Governor was informed that he was superseded by Sir George Grey, formerly Governor of New Zealand, and then of the Cape of Good Hope. The colony had now breathing-time, and the hope revived that we might yet escape the horrors of an insurrection of three-fourths of the native race."
In replying to Mr. Jollie's aspersions on the Native character, Mr. Fitzherbert said:
"He entreated those gentlemen who had left safe firesides, where neither their wives, nor their children, nor their flocks were at the mercy of the Natives they were so ready to insult and to provoke, to remember that they were not talking of a war in China but of a war in New Zealand; and should pause before they pressed upon honourable members, who were exposed to all those risks, a policy which might be fatal to many, as well as to the best interests of the colony. The assertion that we were living at the mercy of the aboriginal race was true, and reflected the greatest credit upon them. What greater panegyric could be pronounced on the Native race than was contained in the statement of fact that, for the last twelve months, we had given them every provocation yet we had been living amongst them with the knowledge in their possession that we were in their power, and yet that they forebore to use that power?"
But the House was not in a humour to expend its energies in debating an Address in Reply. More earnest, more practical business was before them; so that the
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Address in Reply was passed without division early on the same afternoon that it was proposed.
It had now become evident that the existence of the War Ministry was dependent on a single vote; and the excitement and the efforts on both sides became intense. In the House or in the country there was no warmer partisan than the Governor himself; and the efforts of the ladies at Government House were brought to play in full force upon any member supposed to be still amenable to influence. The Governor's declaration of his intention to attack the Waikatos and the Maori King, made to the deputation of Wellington members, had filled them with unfeigned alarm, and had made the removal of the War Ministry a question, not only of political, but also of literal life or death to them and to their neighbours.
Two weeks after receiving the Address in Reply, the Governor sent down a message to the House, which was declared to be on his own responsibility as the representative of the Imperial Government, demanding "a full and cordial co-operation both in men and money," and informing the House that "unless he is assured of its continuance, the Governor is not prepared to instruct Lieutenant-General Cameron to employ the Imperial forces." This message practically brought on the debate of No Confidence under conditions supposed to be favourable to the War Ministry, and, by the two principal combatants Stafford and Fox, the message was debated with more energy than the No Confidence motion itself. In proposing the acceptance of the Governor's terms, Mr. Stafford came out in an entirely new character. Instead of his usual cool, deliberate, and perfectly unexcited attitude, he endeavoured to display an energy and excitement quite unnatural to him, throwing himself from side to side so as to touch the floor with his hands, as he exclaimed:--"Sir, are we Britions? Is it possible that it has become to us a question of pounds, shillings and pence, as to whether we shall, or shall not, be ruled, enslaved, tolerated or exterminated by a handful of uncivilized men? Shall it ever be said that the representatives of the men of New Zealand hesitated for one moment when such a question was placed before them? If it has
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come to that, God forbid that I should be Premier of such a colony! Responsible Minister indeed! I should esteem it no honour to be a responsible minister in such a colony, or to be in any way concerned in governing a country whose people were afraid to risk, in a cause affecting the honour, the liberty, the very existence of themselves, their children, and their children's children, one ounce of their own blood or one pound of their own money."
In reply to this very unwonted and decidedly awkward attempt at oratorical effect by Mr. Stafford, Mr. Fox coolly said:
"The House is not called on to resent the uncouth or contemptuous treatment which the Maori Chiefs may have accorded to the second- or third-rate clerks which have been sent to negotiate with them. I cannot feel any great surprise at an uncivil reply, which may have been sent even to His Excellency the Governor, by men who could not be expected to be quite as well posted in matters of etiquette as ourselves, nor do I care very much, sir, even for an occasional war dance such as the Colonial Secretary has just now so successfully imitated on the floor of this House."
After some very acrimonious speeches had been made on both sides of the House as to the reply to be returned to His Excellency's message, the debate was adjourned from the 26th to the 28th of June, when the Government avoided defeat by adopting an amendment, proposed by Mr. Saunders, which had been printed and unanimously adopted at an Opposition caucus. That amendment entirely altered the unlimited character of the assistance to be promised to the Governor, and left unaltered the existing restrictions as to the employment of the militia; so that the reply thus amended was adopted by both sides of the House without further debate and without a division.
Five days after the Reply had thus been passed, Mr. Fox proposed, in a long and very able speech, "That this House has no confidence in His Excellency's responsible advisers." Mr. Stafford's reply was unusually long, but quite in his usual cool and argumentative style. Both leaders went over a great deal of the old ground that had
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been traversed in 1860, and neither of their speeches moved either side of the House so much as that made by the Colonial Treasurer, who summed up the defence of the Government. His speech was by far the ablest and best in the debate, and the best he ever made. Whilst Stafford was only nominally responsible for the War Policy which he coolly and officially defended, Mr. Richmond was called on to defend what was really his own policy, and all his heart and soul were thrown into the defence. His warm and generous nature imparted a softening influence to his eloquent words, which sometimes brought tears to his own eyes as well as to the eyes of his audience, and made that speech a living, moving force which no report of it was ever likely to reproduce. His long speech concluded in something like these words:--"I do not think the honourable member for Rangitikei can desire office, however much he may desire victory, and it must be evident to all that nothing but the clearest sense of duty could have induced us to hold office so long as we have done. The honourable member cannot now take office as the leader of an ultra-provincial or an ultra-democratic party. The momentous issues of peace or war, of life or death; affecting not only both races in this country, but the honour and reputation of the British nation, must be the all-absorbing claim on his attention, and will bring with it difficulties which he has underrated in the past, but which we shall not underrate in any estimate we may form of each honest effort he may make for the salvation of this endangered colony. We are more than ready to lay down the stewardship we have so long administered, and I humbly hope that, in doing so, we are not unmindful of a greater account than that which we have to-day to render to this House. I only ask each member of this House to do his duty. Let us all, at this perilous juncture, do our duty; so that we may firmly and hopefully abide the issue, whatever that issue may be."
In exercising his right of reply, Mr. Fox made no attempt to refute the able speech of the Colonial Treasurer. It was not the sort of speech to be met by banter or ridicule; and Mr. Fox knew that every vote had been secured, and
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would be changed by no further arguments; whilst, with a known majority of only one, any delay was dangerous.
The No Confidence debate began on Wednesday, the 3rd of July, and was concluded on Friday, the 5th. The names recorded on that division were 24 for, and 23 against the No Confidence motion.
AYES, 24.
Brandon, Graham, G., Monro, Williamson
Carleton, Graham, R., O'Rorke, White
Carter, Henderson, Renall, Wood
Dick, Kettle, Rhodes, Tellers
Eyes, Mantell, Saunders, Fox
Featherston, McGlashan, Taylor, C. J., Taylor, N. W.,
Fitzherbert
NOES, 23.
Bell, Fraser, Ormond, Weld
Butler, Hall, Richmond, A. J., Wells
Cookson, Jollie, Richmond, C. W., Wilson
Creyke, Mason, Rowley Tellers.
Domett, Nixon, Russell, Curtis
Firth, O'Neill, Stafford, Richmond, J. C.
As the Speaker, Dr. Monro, was known to be strongly in favour of the Government and the war, the 48 members present were exactly equally divided, and Mr. Fox found himself in the nominal seat of power with enormous difficulties before him, and the smallest possible numerical strength behind him.
Within an hour after the division had been taken, the resignation of the Stafford Ministry was in the hands of the Governor. It was afternoon on the following day, Saturday, when Mr. Fox received the Governor's letter informing him of their resignation, and requesting his attendance and assistance to form a new Ministry. Mr. Fox immediately waited on the Governor, and accepted the task of forming a Ministry. The day was far gone when he had concluded his consultation with His
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Excellency; so that nothing further was done until Monday morning, when he called a meeting of all those who had voted with him, and, in the presence of them all, proposed that he should take the office of Attorney-General and Leader of the House; Dr. Featherston, Colonial Secretary; Mr. Saunders, Colonial Treasurer; Mr. Mantell, Native Minister; Messrs. Williamson and Henderson to have seats in the Executive without office. Mr. Saunders declined to accept any office, and Mr. Reader Wood was chosen to take the place of Colonial Treasurer. The position of Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Crown Lands was kept open for Mr. Crosbie Ward, who had not yet arrived from Lyttelton. It was understood that Dr. Featherston would not give up the Superintendency of Wellington, and would only hold the position of Colonial Secretary until Mr. Fox could be relieved from the Attorney-Generalship by the appointment of Mr. Sewell. So that, early in the following month (August 2nd) the Fox Ministry stood:--
Mr. Fox, Premier and Colonial Secretary.
Mr. Wood, Treasurer and Commissioner of Customs.
Mr. Sewell, Attorney-General.
Mr. Ward, Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Crown Lands.
Messrs. Williamson, Henderson and Pollen, seats on the Executive without office.
Thus, for the second time, Mr. Fox found himself in the difficult position of a Premier without a working majority in the House of Representatives; and, at the same time, called upon to meet difficulties far greater than those which surrounded him in 1856. The difficulties were so great and so apparent that there was probably no man in the House who really wished to take his place; so that any division on any Government question was avoided for some three or four weeks. Without any desire to hold office himself, Mr. Fox and the majority of his supporters were driven by an intelligent regard for their own safety, and that of their constituents, to strenuously oppose the return to power of the War Ministry, and to prevent the
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Governor from carrying out his madly-proclaimed intention of invading the Waikato, and thereby arousing the active hostility of the whole Native race.
But, three weeks after the War Ministry had resigned, the great danger that the well-informed residents in the North Island so much dreaded was set at rest by the receipt, on Saturday, July 27th, of a despatch from the Duke of Newcastle, informing Governor Browne that Sir George Grey had been appointed as his successor, and had been directed to proceed from the Cape to New Zealand with the least possible delay. In this despatch, Governor Browne was let down as easily as possible: the despatch was almost dishonestly courteous; but still there was no possibility of mistaking the estimate that the Duke had formed of what had resulted, and probably would result, from the actions of a Governor who had so rashly blundered into the Taranaki War, and was prepared to extend it to a war with the whole Maori race. The Duke wrote:--
"I recognize with pleasure the sound and impartial judgment, the integrity, intelligence, and anxiety for the public good which have characterized your government of the colony for nearly six years. The present conjuncture, however, renders it necessary for Her Majesty's Government to leave no expedient untried which is calculated to arrest the course of events, now unhappily so unpromising, and, at the same time, to provide for the future difficulties which there is only too much reason to anticipate, even if the war should happily be soon brought to a conclusion.
"Having regard therefore to the peculiar qualifications of Sir George Grey, now governing the Cape of Good Hope, I have felt that I should be neglecting a chance of diverting a more general and disastrous war if I omitted to avail myself of the remarkable authority which will attach to his name and character as Governor of New Zealand."
Personally and socially no New Zealand Governor ever cultivated or obtained so much influence over the individual members of the House of Representatives as was secured by the indefatigable attentions paid to members by Governor and Mrs. Browne; and the general sympathy caused by the Governor's sudden humiliation extended far beyond the
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circle of his political supporters; so that the barely-defeated Ministers naturally hoped that such private good-will, now. intensified by the Governor's humiliation, would sufficiently influence the evenly-balanced division list as to show a majority on the other side.
Two days after the Duke of Newcastle's letter had been received in the House, Mr. C. W. Richmond, far more on the Governor's account than on that of his own or his party, informed the Government that they might expect some serious opposition from him and his friends; and, on Thursday, the 1st day of August, Mr. Richmond proposed, and Mr. Stafford seconded, a vote of No Confidence. In proposing this vote of censure, Mr. Richmond deprecated long speeches, and no long speeches were made; so that, although thirteen members spoke, the division was taken before 10 p.m. on the same day that the motion was proposed--and proved that no one had been converted on either side. Four more votes were recorded than were present on the 5th of July; but they were placed two on each side, and still left the bare majority of one in favour of the Fox Ministry. The young Major Harry Atkinson had come up from the Grey and Bell district to the help of his brother-in-law, Richmond, and Mr. Colenso, from the new province of Napier, voted with him. Mr. Ward had arrived from Lyttelton, and Mr. Harrison from Wanganui, prepared to support Mr. Fox; so that the division, instead of being 24 and 23, was now 26 and 25.
Ten days after the arrival of the Duke of Newcastle's despatch, the Fox Government was defeated, by a majority of four, on the question of the repeal or suspension of the New Provinces Act; but the amendment, that the Bill be read that day six months, had been proposed by Mr. Carleton, who was a leading supporter of the Government, and the rejection was not treated as a Government defeat; as the importance of every other question was overshadowed by that of peace or war. On a similar proposal, the views of the Government were defeated in the Legislative Council also, by a majority of one.
With such an equal division of parties, no Government could make any effectual progress with legislation, or hope
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to succeed in any important executive work, so long as the House was sitting and the change of Governors impending. This fact was recognised by the members of the late Government, and, after their second defeat, there was a general feeling that the Government in power must soon be set at liberty to go to work with the new Governor, and to give the new policy a fair trial.
On Tuesday, the 27th of August, eleven days before the House was prorogued, Mr. Domett proposed a complimentary Address to Governor Browne on the approaching departure of His Excellency. There was nothing unusual about the Address except that it was brought in by the Opposition and not by the Government, and no one but Mr. Domett himself claimed any responsibility for its preparation. The compliments were all of the usual kind, and expressed in the usual language; but Mr. Domett said that "he had been led by his knowledge of the views of many in the House to couch the Address in as moderate terms as possible; for, if he had expressed his own opinion of His Excellency, the language would have been ten times stronger than it was. His Excellency had made a most gallant stand against those men in the old country known as the Exeter Hall party, whose machinations had been detrimental to the best interests of the settlers in the colony, and detrimental also to the best interests of the Natives of New Zealand. Their doctrine of humanitarianism met a check from His Excellency, Governor Browne, who felt it to be as sacred a duty to look after the interests of the white settlers in New Zealand as to look after the Natives to the neglect of the Europeans. This in his (Mr. Domett's) opinion was a much more sacred duty and it had not been forgotten by His Excellency, for which the thanks of the colony should be tendered to him, and on account of which future colonists would thank him with grateful hearts."
But, although the form and language of the Address were commonplace, the Opposition to it was most unusual and significant, and far more than destroyed any value that such an Address could have had in itself. The Opposition confined their objections to one word, and that was the
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word "enlightened" which they asked to have struck out. They were quite willing, for the sake of unanimity, to adopt all the other adjectives that Mr. Domett had employed. They would say that the Governor was most courteous, amiable, honest, active, and unselfish, and that he had the very best intentions; but to say that his administration was wise and enlightened would be to condemn their own opposition to his policy and to falsify the history of the disastrous Taranaki war, with all its long train of miseries, calamities, and debt. They would not unnecessarily wound the feelings of the departing and humiliated Governor--they could and they did walk out of the House, leaving only one of their number to act as teller--but, to say that the Governor who ordered the first attack on the brave and loyal Wiremu Kingi was enlightened was too much to ask from intelligent and responsible men, whose vote would stand recorded to their own condemnation.
Mr. Domett at first consented to withdraw the untruthful word; but he was overruled by bolder or less responsible men, with the result that the valedictory Address to Governor Browne, although passed by a majority of 26, was only supported by half the members of the House.
In the Council, a very judiciously-worded address, which said nothing about enlightenment or intelligence, was passed without opposition or debate. On the 3rd of September, the Council passed, without a division, a resolution proposed by Mr. Tancred, who, it will be remembered, was placed at the bottom of the poll when seeking election in a triangular contest as the first Superintendent of Canterbury. His resolution was thus worded:-- "In the opinion of this Council the system of appointing Superintendents of provinces by election is attended by grave inconveniences, and is inconsistent with the proper working of Government."
The courteous, although humiliating, despatch from the Duke of Newcastle recalling Governor Browne was resented, in no uncertain language, by his late Ministers, and now irresponsible flatterers; but it was replied to by the Governor himself with great judgment and good taste.
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He assured the Duke most heartily that Sir George Grey should receive every assistance and all the information that he could give him, and admitted, without any reservation, that the appointment of a Governor "who has so much personal influence with the Maoris, and is so deservedly beloved by them, affords the best hope of a peaceful solution of the present difficulty." Complimentary, though somewhat guarded, Addresses, in which Mrs. Browne was very sincerely and heartily included, were presented to the Governor both by Europeans and Maoris. He was the first to meet and welcome Sir George Grey when he landed, and few Governors have been more sincerely regretted by a large circle of grateful personal friends, notwithstanding the heavy legacy of debt, difficulty, disaster, and danger that he was leaving behind him.
Sir George Grey arrived in Auckland on September 26th, 1861, Governor Browne sailed for Sydney six days after the arrival of his successor, and soon afterwards was appointed to be Governor of Tasmania.
Great were the hopes and expectations that Sir George Grey would again effect the happy transformation, from war to peace, from distrust to confidence, from poverty to prosperity, that he had so promptly effected in 1846; but such hopes were doomed to be very slowly and very partially realized. Sir George Grey was still as capable, as courageous, as confident, as conciliatory as of old; but his surroundings had all been changed, and changed for the worse. The cruel, the deliberate, the long-continued injustice inflicted upon Wiremu Kingi and his tribe by a Governor appointed by the Queen, and represented to them as still enjoying her confidence, had broken the Maoris' charmed belief in the justice of England's Queen. Sir George was still a Sampson; but he was a Sampson whose locks had been shorn. The natives saw that he had come back to them without his former power, and with the same dependence upon the white men's runanga that they had despised so much in Governor Browne. They knew that he had now lost the strong arm and the wise council of their great chief Te Whero Whero. But, worse than all, the power he had used so effectively in 1846, as the
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Governor, the Premier, and the Commander-in-Chief combined in one capable man, was now allotted to Sir George Grey, to Mr. Fox, and to General Cameron, each of whom had to be consulted, and, if need be, convinced and conciliated, before any important step could be decided on. Under such conditions, neither fighting nor peacemaking could be successfully conducted, especially as the three powers very soon lost, in a remarkable degree, all respect for, or confidence in, each other. The bellicose newspapers still succeeded in making peace unpopular and impossible; so that some of Mr. Fox's own party were demanding impossible conditions of peace, and Mr. Fox himself was, as usual, not altogether proof against the promptings of those friends who surrounded him. Sir George Grey chafed under the unwonted fetters which now thwarted him at every turn. The haughty General demanded the most lavish expenditure of money in any direction he chose, whilst each encounter with the Maoris only served to prove how inferior he was in sagacity to the penniless chiefs who opposed him.
