Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.
Advises Use of Maoris
Advises Use of Maoris.
We are not sure that the same approbation will be meted out to another measure that he proposed or recommended. Some old friends of his, leading Maori chiefs in the North Island of New Zealand, offered to raise regiments of Maoris for service in India. For a number of reasons Grey strongly advised the Home Government to accept the offer. Recalling the employment of Indians in the war of American Independence, where the Indians were yet matched with hostile Indians in the American service, the English Government refused to accept the offer. Grey had been misled by his romantic attachment for a race whose virtues he probably overestimated and to whose savagery he chose to shut his eyes. In the matter of savagery there was, indeed, little to choose between the brown race and the white. A touch of cannibalism would hardly have been out of place at a time when Indian natives were blown from the mouths of guns. At all events, the civilised world will probably not again sanction the use of savage troops against even semi-civilised peoples.