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be wished to get it to plant settlements on. He cannot therefore give the vague assurance asked for. The Governor also cannot promise beforehand that if the terms of the Proclamation are not complied with by the day fixed in it, he will follow any particular course of action. In a question involving the destiny of another nation, and the lives and property of a good many people, he feels he ought not to be asked to pledge himself beforehand to any particular line of action in the event of a specified contingency taking place, until the facts have shewn what were the causes which brought about that contingency, and what is the actual state of affairs existing at the time it occurs, he therefore feels it to be his duty to decline to give the pledge in this instance asked for. The Governor has already stated to Ministers in his Memorandum of the 3rd of May last, his reasons for objecting to insert the condition of the surrender of arms and ammunition in the proposed Proclamation. He hopes that a consideration of these will satisfy Ministers, and load them to acquiesce in the Proclamation in the form in which ho transmitted it to them. G. Ghet. Government House, Bth September, 1864. No. 7. MEMOKANDTJM for His Excellence the Governob. Ministers very much regret that they feel themselves under-the necessity of respectfully declining to acquiesce in the Proclamation proposed by His Excellency in the form in which ho transmitted it to them on the 7th instant. Ministers feel bound to adhere to the suggestions made in their Memorandum of the Bth instant, and unless His Excellency will be pleased to consent to the alteration proposed, they feel that with their decided convictions there is no proper course open, but respectfully to withhold their concurrence. Nor can Ministers be parties to the declaration in the proposed Proclamation, which has the effect of constituting the Governor and the General the sole arbiters of what shall be deemed a satisfactory cession of territory by the rebel Natives, especially when Ministers are refused any assurance that their views will be considered, but are given to understand that the sole guide in the determination of the question is to be His Excellency's notion of justice, to the exclusion of every other consideration, even the safety of lives and property. Ministers cannot agree with His Excellency that "if the Natives come in under the Proclamation " and make a cession of territory, that this would bo deemed a sufficient submission on their part, and "as complete a recognition of defeat as could be expected." On the contrary, Ministers believe that such a submission would in many cases be hollow and delusive, —made only with a view to take advantage of the first favourable opportunity to renew the war. The surrender of arms is the best and only conclusive proof of a satisfactory submission; giving them up clearly indicates the feeling that the further use of weapons is not contemplated, whilo their tenacious retention, as clearly proves the intention to resort to them on a future occasion. His Excellency misrepresents the views of Ministers when he imputes to them " that they in their " Memorandum only look to the acquisition of territory as a means of aiding by its sale, in defraying " the expenses of the war, or for the purpose of being devoted to military settlements." Ministers in their Memorandum explicitly declared that the contemplated cession should include those objects, and not that they were the only ones sought to be attained. Ministers cannot consent to regard confiscation only in the one point of view s'.atcd by His Excellency, namely, punishment. The plans proposed by His Excellency in June 18(53, concurred in by his Ministers, legalized by the General Assembly, and sanctioned by the Imperial Government, embrace measures founded on confiscation, designed to ensure the permanent peace of the Colony and essential to the safety of the lives and property of the well disposed settlers of both races. Con'.racts and promises have been made with a view to carry out such measures, and those who have relied upon the honor of the Government have a right to expect the engagements made with them to be honestly fulfilled. Ministers cannot acquiesce in any course which they feel will probably prove destructive of the important objects His Excellency's then Ministers had in view when they concurred in His Excellency's plans of June 18G3, upon the distinct understanding that they would bo carried out aa a whole ; nor can Ministers be party to any course which may render a breach of faith on the part of the Government inevitable. Ministers neither advocate nor desire any course beyond what " the limits of justice warrant," but they cannot agree with His Excellency in the views ho now gives expression to on the suh.eet of confiscation. They believe, to use the words of His Excellency of July 1863, that " those who wage war " against Her Majesty, must take the consequences of their acts, and they must understand that they " will forfeit the right to the possession of their lands guaranteed to them by the Treaty of Waitangi." It appears to Ministers to be perfectly just that those who have involved the couniry in the losses of life and property that have been sustained, and tho cost which has been incurred in su >pressing rebellion, may justly be required to contribute the means of providing against sul-Ii losses for the future as weL as reimbursing at all events some of tho cost of the past. If, however, it should be found hereafter that in carrying out this policy, individuals have suffered disproportionately, there can be neither objection nor difficulty in the way of making amends, either in money or laud, to meet the circumstances of particular cftses. Ministers beg most respectfully to express their regret, that what appears to them, a serious change of policy is contemplated by His Excellency, —a change, in their opinion, uncalled for by any change of circumstances whatever. Her Majesty's Troops are in undisputed possession of sufficient land in Waikato to fulfil our engagements in this part of the Colony, and thus secure the future safety of its inhabitants, and yet not one-half of the land of the rebel Waikato and Ngatimauapoto tribes is so

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