A.—No. 9.

8

CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE

It must also be borne in mind that any recognition of the Maori King, as having authority over the many influential tribes who are quite independent of him, would at once be resented by them, and could not bo effected except by force. Lord Granville further states that large concessions (the abandonment of land and the recognition of Maori authority) "are unavoidable, to appease a pervading discontent with which the Colony is " otherwise unable to cope." Ministers cannot imagine on what grounds His Lordsbip thinks it right to advise such concessions to rebels in arms. Concessions of that kind to armed rebels in civilized countries do not generally tend to conciliation, and would certainly not have that effect where the rebels are semi-barbarous, have an overweening idea of their superior prowess, and see the Colony abandoned by the Imperial Government. Conciliation of Te Kooti simply is submission to massacre. It is the duty and the earnest wish of the Colonial Government to remove every real grievance of the Native race ; but any attempt to buy off those who are fighting against us, by concession of land and recognition of authority, would always be dangerous, and would now be doubly dangerous, when those persons learn, on the authority of this Despatch, which was published only five days after it was written, that the weakness of the Colony renders those concessions unavoidable, and that the British Troops are withdrawn for the express purpose of reducing the Colony to that requisite weakness. It does not appear that the present Prime Minister, in his recent reply to the memorials for the release of the Fenian prisoners, takes the same view of concession, even where it would be impossible to misinterpret it as a sign of weakness, or as an encouragement to rebellion. He says that "Tho " first duty is to consider, not the overwhelming power with which future crime could be repressed, and " still less the satisfaction always attendant on concession to demands that have sprung from a " generous compassion, but the paramount obligation of securing in their peaceful occupation the loyal " mass of the community." And he adds, "To raise or to incite insurrection against the Government "of this country, and against its public order, is ever to bo regarded as a great crime; to permit " it, would be one not less great. The Administration can have no interest except the interest of duty " in its punishment." The late Duke of Newcastle, when Secretary of State for the Colonies, also reprobated this abject policy of weakness, now sought to bo imposed on the Colony. His Grace, in a Despatch dated sth June, 1861, written since the commencement of this war to Governor Sir George Grey, stated as follows, in reference to conditions of peace : " But I wish to impress upon you my conviction, that in " deciding upon those conditions it will be your duty, while avoiding all unnecessary severit)>" towards " men who can scarcely be looked upon as subjects in rebellion, to take care that neither your own " mission nor the cessation of hostilities when it arrives, shall carry with it, in the eyes of the Natives, " any appearance of weakness or alarm. It would be better even to prolong the war, with all its evils, " than to end it without producing in the Native mind such a conviction of our strength, as may render " peace not temporary and precarious, but well-grounded and lasting." The last point to which Ministers will allude is the premature publication of tho Despatch under consideration. It was written on the 7th of October last; it was presented, not to Parliament, hut to the London newspapers, and it appeared in the Times of the 12th of that month; and, although the mail to Australia had left, its substance was telegraphed via Galle, and was known throughout New Zealand ten days before the Despatch itself reached the Governor. This course, in the case of Despatches to the Governor of a Colony, is, it is believed, most unusual, and, in this case, calculated to have a very mischievous effect on tho Native mind, and on the negotiations which were at the time in. progress with the King Natives, with apparently every reasonable prospect of a favourable issue. Ministers trust that in this Memorandum which it has been their painful duty to write in answer to Earl Granville's Despatch, they have not been betrayed by the strength of their natural feelings on a subject of" vital importance to the Colony, into any expression offensive to the Imperial Government, or unbecoming their own position. Their sole endeavour has been to controvert, fairly and frankly, the erroneous (as they think) statements and imputations unreservedly conveyed in that Despatch, and to represent truly the case of New Zealand in relation to the Empire. They claim that the Colony should be practically recognized as an integral portion of that Empire, and not be thrust out beyond its pale as of infinitely less consideration than a British subject in foreign lands. They ask England for no pecuniary sacrifice; they do not appeal to her compassion ; but they do appeal to those eternal principles of justice, which are as much the duty of the strong as they are the heritage of the weak, and which even the most powerful nation should never withhold from the feeblest suppliant. W. Gisborne, For His Excellency the Governor. Colonial Secretary. Note. —The absence from Wellington of Mr. Fox has precluded him from signing this Memorandum.

No. 3. Memorandum by Mr. Fox. (Copies sent to the New Zealand Commissioners in London on the 2nd April, 1870.) The departure of the last regiment of British troops, marking as it docs an epoch in the history of New Zealand, should not in any case be passed over without remark ; but more especially is it necessary that Ministers should state their views concerning it, inasmuch as it is exciting considerable discussion in England, and statements are being made with which the Colony may be identified, in the absence of any distinct official utterance. It would be impossible within reasonable limits, even if it were desirable, to discuss the many phases of the Colonial question which have appeared in connection with the policy which the Imperial Government is pursuing towards New Zealand. Ministers acknowledge with thanks on behalf of the Colony the efforts which have been made by a number of