Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.

The Seizure of Rauparaha

The Seizure of Rauparaha.

Grey's campaign against the Maoris in the South was marked by an incident that occupies a place in history that is at first sight out of all proportion with its real importance. At a time of general peace, though of local disturbance, without proved hostility on the one side or warning on the other, the Governor treacherously laid violent hands on the most dreaded chief in the southern parts of the Colony. Te Rauparaha is a striking figure in the history of New Zealand. Of high rank, blending the best blood of two powerful tribes, and the principal chief of one of them, he was a ruler whose mana, or prestige, extended along both shores of Cook's Straits and far inland. Unfriendly observers found him an impressive personality. With the aquiline features of the Cassarian caste, but a retreating forehead, sunken yet piercing eyes, the projecting upper lip so seldom seen together with fierceness, yet a look of tigerish ferocity, he was a chief of commanding presence. E. J. Wakefield, a hostile judge, says that on one occasion he spoke "with the majesty of a monarch," and he was then acclaimed as "king of the Maori."

Rauparaha had led many a daring raid against neighbouring tribes, and he had been mixed up with one of the ugliest deeds of blood in Maori-English story. He was vindictive and blood-thirsty, crafty and unscrupulous. He was not wholly unsympathetic with the English settlers. So early as 1833 a converted slave-boy, who had been educated at a northern mission-station, taught some of Rauparaha's tribesmen their letters. The same missionary of civilisation indoctrinated both the son and nephew of the chief with the principles of the Christian religion, and so deeply impressed was Rauparaha that he despatched his son to ask that a missionary be sent to his tribe. He had signed the treaty of Waitangi, and thus, over the wide range of his influence, he surrendered the sovereignty of his tribe. It is probable that he had taken to heart the words of Waka Nene, spoken at a still earlier date, telling Mm that the British were good people, and that he would find his account in living at peace with them.

In 1839 Colonel Wakefield, the agent of the New Zealand Company in New Zealand, found him in general opposed to the alienation of Native lands, but extracted from his reluctance the purchase of some extensive tracts, and believed that he had extracted a great deal more. In 1843 Rauparaha was indirectly concerned in the "massacre" at Wairau, when he strenuously resisted the settlement of English immigrants on land they had never acquired, and a year later the representative of the British Government justified his refusal, if not his crime, while the action of the Company was condemned by the Secretary of State. The very next day, in an impassioned speech, Bauparaha revealed his mind and purpose.''Now is the time to strike," he cried. "You see now what the glozing pretences of the pakeha are worth; you know now what they mean in their hearts; you know now that you can expect nothing but tyranny and injustice at their hands. Come forward and sweep them from the land which they have striven to bedew with our blood." Rauparaha, he said of himself, "will fight the Queen's soldiers with his own hand,—with his own name.'' It was the behaviour of the New Zealand Company that had changed the spirit of Rauparaha, Wholesale forcible conveyances of land to which they had but the shadow of a claim had turned him against the pakeha. Still, as far as has ever been known, he took no overt action.

In May, 1846, troubles broke out in the Wellington district. A body of armed Maoris swooped down on the 58th regiment, stationed near the Hutt River, drove in the picket, killing and wounding a number, and then slowly retired before a superior force. This was probably the act of Rangihaeata, who occupied a strongly fortified position in the neighbourhood, and Rangihaeata was the son-in-law of Rauparaha. Yet relatives and slaves of Rauparaha aided the British in making roads, an indispensable aid to the movements of the troops, and they were said to surpass the Europeans as road-makers. In June a skirmish took place in the valley of the Hutt, probably made by the same undaunted disturber as the author of the night-attack in May, and the commanding officer had his suspicions of Rauparaha, but Grey was still doubtful. It was perhaps little that Rauparaha visited Grey and gave him assurances of fidelity; a traitor might have done the same. He was on that occasion subjected to a rough-and-ready test. Grey showed him an intercepted letter, bearing his signature along with those of others, inviting disaffected natives to the coast. Grey, a keen observer and a good judge of men, was then convinced that he was unacquainted with the letter, and after his father's capture Rauparaha's son stated that he had not signed it (he was almost certainly unable to write). Yet on this flimsy evidence Grey relied in after years, when challenged on the subject by Mr. Eusden and (a few years later) by another interlocutor. But the real ground of Rauparaha's condemnation was that, knowingly or not, he gave his moral support to Rangihaeata, and if he was attacked, Rauparaha might fall on the rear of the attacking force. Grey decided to strike a blow that would resound through Maoriland. On the night of July 23, he sent to Porirua 150 soldiers, who seized the unsuspecting warrior in his sleep, and had him conveyed to H.M.S. Calliope, where he kept the chief a State prisoner. Rauparaha's own prophecy had come true. Three years before, on the very day of the Wairau massacre, he had cried: "What could they gain by enslaving me? by fastening irons on these poor old hands? No; that is not what they seek. It is because through my person they hope to dishonour you. If they can enslave me, they think they degrade the whole Maori race.'' To dishonour or degrade the Maoris was no part of the Governor's plan. On the contrary, he was to do more to raise them in their own estimation and in that of all the world than any other man, but his policy was always to disarm and disable an enemy. Then he was prepared to treat with them.

The ethics of the case seem comparatively simple. As regarded Rauparaha, it was plainly an unjust act. Probably, Rauparaha had nothing to do with the incriminating letter. His own overt acts were not culpable. But a man cannot be always dissociated from the society to which he belongs, and especially a leading chief, in a primitive community, could not be separated from the acts of his tribesmen and near relatives. Rauparaha lent Rangihaeata his countenance. But for Rauparaha's approval or passive acquiescence, Rangihaeata would not have pursued a policy of active opposition to the colonists and hostility to the troops. That Rauparaha was involved in the consequences of Rangihaeata's policy is shown by his attempts to set Rauparaha free. As regarded Rangihaeata and his tribe, the act was justifiable. It was an act of war, and the tribe was at war with the British. No action could be more effective. It sent a thrill of dread through all Maoridom. It showed that the new Governor, who was already known as a "fighting Governor,'' was not a man to be trifled with. It probably averted much bloodshed. It resembled the sudden, unprovoked seizure of the innocent Due d'Enghien by Napoleon, which Napoleon defended to the last as being necessary in order to strike terror into possible Bourbon conspirators. Had the duke been liberated after a brief imprisonment, the case would have run almost on all fours with Rauparaha's. But Rauparaha was released after a brief time on parole, and Grey thus escaped the condemnation that overtook Napoleon.

Had the act caused Grey to forfeit the confidence of the Maoris, it would have been impolitic, and Mr. Rusden affirms, what Grey at the time admitted, that it did have this result; Long afterwards, in 1879, when Grrey was Premier, he made overtures to King Tawhiao that were rejected on the ground that the captor of Rauparaha could not be trusted. Yet the Maoris considered all acts justifiable against a real or suspected enemy. Grey's wily character soon got to be known to the Maoris, was it Heke in the far north who, when Grey had sent him a present of money, examined the sovereigns closely to see if they "had any hooks on them," as everything that came from Grey was apt to have? As for the alleged distrust of Grey on the part of Tawhiao, it was transient. I may be permitted to offer some personal evidence on that head. I was a visitor at Kawau in the autumn of 1884, when the Maori King and his sons, with the great chieftain Rewi and his daughter, and other Maori chiefs came to procure Grey's countenance and support in their projected mission to England. Rewi was then guarded as always, but the attitude of Tawhiao was, on that occasion, one of almost childlike confidence. If ever he felt distrust of Grey, he had completely overcome it.

There is more convincing evidence. When, in the course of the conflict between Grey and the New Zealand Company, it was rumoured that the Governor was on the eve of being recalled from New Zealand a number of petitions against the recall were got up, and to one of these the first signature appended was that of the captured chief himself—the famous and dreaded Rauparaha. Some years later, when Grey was leaving New Zealand to return to England, the son of Rauparaha was the author of one of the many laments. Rauparaha himself bore no malice. He told his son to "love the Europeans." He had long been a professing Christian, and from the time of his seizure onwards to his death at an advanced age, he '' was continually worshipping.'' But the devotedness of a whole race is proof that its faith in Grey remained intact. In the year of Rauparaha's death two Waikato chiefs wrote to the Queen, asking that Governor Grey should ''long remain here as Governor of this island." "We have a great affection for him," they added.

The war, even in the neighbourhood of Wellington, was not ended by the imprisonment of Rauparaha. A guerilla warfare was still maintained by Rangihaeata, whom Grey disdained to follow, but who was pursued to the hills— he and his little band of 200 heroes—by 1000 English and colonial troops. In course of time he lost heart, dissuaded by his relatives from continuing the strife. "Do not suppose, O Governor," he said to Grey, "that you conquered me. It was these, my own relatives and friends, who conquered me." He gave in, but as he proudly boasted, he was never defeated, nor was he ever captured. It was the way most Maori wars with the British ended. The natives were morally—they were seldom physically—beaten.