so numerous a party arrayed against him, he should at once have sounded a retreat, whereas, though the natives, at first, were peaceably inclined, yet his conduct seems to have roused them up to the highest pitch of indignation, and their numbers gave them confidence. This will appear evident from the following extract from the evidence of Mr. Tuckett, one of the chief surveyors of the New Zealand Company, who was present, but escaped by flight. Being one of those who first crossed the stream by the canoe, along with Mr. Thompson and others, Mr. Tuckett, after giving a detailed account of the earlier history of their proceedings, depones thus:

"At first we found only Rauperaha, to whom the warrant was shown and its purport explained by the police magistrate, who requested him to go on board the government brig, where the charge which had been brought against him by Mr. Cotterell would be investigated. Rauperaha said he was willing to go into the matter there, but he would not go on board the brig, and that if he was satisfied with the decision on the spot, he would pay the utù there. The police magistrate then informed him that he must go on board the brig, and that he might have any of his people to go along with him, but he refused to go. The police magistrate then demanded whether he would go or not, to which he replied that he would not. The police magistrate then said, "You will not? There are our armed men, they shall fire on you all." On this, sixteen natives sprang to their feet and presented fire-arms. A native of the Bay of Islands, who was present, interpreted to them, and told them every word that was said. Rauperaha was again called on to surrender, accompanied with the same

threat.

Rangihaiata then stepped forward and de

fied the power of the magistrates; he was very vehement, and said that they (the natives) did not go to England to interfere with the white people, and more to the same effect, and why should they interfere with him? Puaha then came forward with a bible in his hand, and prayed them to refrain from strife. The dialogue between Rauperaha, Rangihaiata, and the police magistrate, then became so hurried and vehement that it was impossible to follow what was said. Feeling convinced that a conflict would speedily ensue, I then recommended to Captain Wakefield that we should return to the other side of the stream, where our force was. We accordingly, having obtained the consent of the natives, laid one of their canoes across the stream, and were in the act of passing over, when Captain Wakefield (probably observing a movement on the part of the armed natives to interrupt Mr. Thompson) sprung up, and called out in a loud tone, "Meu, forward! Englishmen, forward!" Four or five men then advanced upon the canoe, and at that moment I heard the discharge of a musket, but from what party I cannot say; and instantly a volley was fired by the natives, which was answered from our side. I then got to the opposite side, and remained in the bush for some time, whilst a brisk fire was kept up on both sides. Some one then called out to me that our party were retreating up the hill, in which direction I followed, and observed Captains Wakefield and England, and Mr. Howard, endeavouring to form the men on the first eminence, but they continued to press on."

Great stress has been laid by the settlers, on the circumstance of the natives having gone, as they say,

with the intention of fighting. But so far as I can judge, on examining the evidence carefully, though it is quite clear they went with the determination of putting a stop to the white people taking, or keeping possession of what they considered their own land; yet it does not appear that they had any intention of becoming the aggressors, or fighting except they were resisted. Indeed, until that most unfortunate shot was fired (accidentally, no doubt,) by one of our party, their conduct does not warrant us to infer that they would have been the aggressors. But after that shot was fired, and excited as they had now become by the violent conduct of Mr. Thompson, we cannot altogether wonder at their firing upon us, as they no doubt considered that we had first begun to fire upon them, and could not possibly have known that it was purely accidental. This last circumstance does not seem to have been sufficiently adverted to, but it goes far with me in thus vindicating the conduct of the natives on this melancholy occasion; and that not certainly from any great regard I bear to them, but for the sacred cause of truth, and of justice.

As for the conduct of Rangihaiata, he seems merely to have followed the barbarous custom which had existed in that country from time immemorial, namely, destroying the prisoners taken in battle, particularly if they were the chiefs; and the introduction of civilized society amongst them, during the short space of three years, could hardly be expected to overcome, all at once, those feelings which they had imbibed from their earlier years, or put an end to a practice sanctioned by the tradition of ages. It is evident, however, that the prisoners taken would have been spared, through the influence of Rauperaha, had it not

been for the unfortunate circumstance of his daughter having been accidentally killed during the skirmish; and savages do not make any distinction betwixt a thing being done accidentally or designedly. They look merely to the result.

I cannot help thinking, however, that the fate of all those who were killed, must be attributed nearly as much to the cowardice and flight of so many of the British party, as to the momentary feelings of revenge which actuated the conduct of an excited, and most ferocious savage. The natives were proved to have been in the act of retreating when some of our party were observed by them to have taken flight. This, followed up as it was by the sound of the " war-cry," inspired them with fresh courage, and the few who remained at their posts, being some of them without arms, had no alternative left but to surrender. Those, on the contrary, who so basely left their countrymen in the hands of a parcel of excited savages, had not only all muskets in their hands, but were provided with bayonets also, as John Miller expressly depones, "that Mr. Howard called out to the men to fix their bayonets and come to the charge, but the men kept retreating up the hill." A charge given by thirty men, acting in a body, with bayonets in their hands, would at once have put the Maories to flight, and the lives of those wounded, and taken prisoners, would thus have been preserved. The British committed a great mistake in distributing arms amongst a set of ferocious savages. In New South Wales there is a penalty of £20 inflicted on every person furnishing the blacks in that country, with fire-arms,—an exceedingly proper regulation.

The following excerpt from a letter dated Nelson,

New Zealand, and published in the second number of that excellent new work, Simmond's Colonial Magazine for February, 1844, will shew, that the feelings promulgated by the majority of the settlers in that country, on this melancholy event, are by no means universal. At page 236, the writer says, "I believe I mentioned in my last the awful murder of a native woman and her child by a European here. Well, he has been acquitted, on the ground that there was not sufficient evidence to convict him. Now, there was not a doubt on the minds of the majority of the persons in the court that he was the guilty party-and the natives are, of course, not subtle enough to comprehend the niceties of the English law, and could not understand why he was suffered to go scot free. Hence they were much prejudiced against the jury's decision. This exercised a depressing influence over them, and it was felt at this station. Well then, while their minds were thus prejudiced against the whites, a party of surveyors came into this neighbourhood for the purpose of surveying a large valley called the Waisard, with a view to the settlement of Europeans. Now, this valley has not been bought by them, hence they had no right to come and take it in this manner over the heads of the natives, its proprietors. The natives resisted the survey, and pulled down the huts of the surveyors, though without injuring their property in the least. The surveyors lodged a complaint against the natives because of these huts, which were little better than break-winds, and a magistrate came with forty or fifty armed men to take the chiefs into custody. They resisted, and the magistrate ordered them to be fired upon. The natives rose in self defence, and thus about twenty-two white