War
(Golder Project subject term)
Represented in
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Come to the Bush in New Zealand Minstrelsy
- Your billhooks get, and have them whet, / Your axes put in order; / By morning’s light, with all your might, / Attack the forest border.
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Wairau:—or Col. W—’s Dirge to the Memory of His Brother in New Zealand Minstrelsy
- I grieve for the victims who fell in thy fray.
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Stanzas, Extemporaneously Written on a Stormy Night, Dalserf, November 4, 1833 in New Zealand Minstrelsy
- the unhappy nights of storm endured, / In war campaigns, and on the raging main, / Which seem’d t’engulf the tossing bark unmoor’d.
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Canto Fifth in The New Zealand Survey
- so shall your virtues shine, / Enkindling in their hearts new ardours, once / Unknown, to their affections, serving all / To melt the savage nature, purging off / Th’ impurities of degredation’s dross; / Refining them to social life and peace!
- well he could relate / Of fearful broils in which he had engaged / Since such a time, as savage manhood grew / Upon him, fond to shew himself for war / Courageous and expert, inflamed with zeal / To drink the blood of foes; but having learned / Some lessons, in his later years akin, / To sacred truth, impregnating his soul / With feelings of humanity,
- such a sight, of import omenous, / As that great bark to them had ne’er occurr’d / Before,—and was to ancient sires unknown!
- But shall the time arrive when foul distrust / Shall take possession of the Native’s heart, / And there arouse cupidity and strife, / Forgetful of advantages enjoy’d / From friendly intercourse of settlers round; / That war must interrupt the course of peace, / And sorrows consequent on all to bring? / Peace is the gen’ral order of the day / With British hearts; and war their strangest work! / But when to war they must arise, it is / To bring good order from confusion’s mess; / Not to exterminate with ruthless ire, / Like that of savage breed, but to subdue / Th’ unruly, and such to repentance bring!
- Could this unhappy people, as they were, / Be called the true possessors of the soil? / Their occupancy never seemed secure; / And dread debarred their aiming to improve / In cultivation’s art, or ev’n t’ extend / Their labours more than served a present need; / Or what some exigency might demand! / But not for social intercourse in trade / Among their neighb’ring tribes; for jealousy / Debarr’d such efforts, lest they’d fall a prey / To lawless lust; and, as their wants were few, / So even these with little must be met; / Unless it were when plund’ring was the rule! / The wilderness remained an idle waste! / The land was uninhabited, while those,
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England’s Hope in The New Zealand Survey
- Whatever difference might arise, / ’Tween this and other nations; / He’ll see our rights without disguise / Maintain’d’gainst usurpations.
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A Parting for War.—A Song in The New Zealand Survey
- There’s glory ’mid the din of war, / Though nought ye see but danger, love; / Should Freedom’s sons e’er brook debar / From proving her avenger, love! / ’Tis thine, indeed, to weep o’er ills / Which tyrant pride inflicteth, love; / But be it mine to thwart that will / Which Freedom’s joys restricteth, love!
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Canto Second in The New Zealand Survey
- Now looking round contemplating the scene / As it before me lies—combined with what / Is farther known, more than is here discerned:— / All speak of revolutions in the past!
- Aye ev’n at such a time, those southern wastes / Unknown, uncalled for lay; when northern gales / And briny waters have been seized upon, / As some necessity or other cause / Had urged, and them to active service brought, / Like fellow bondsmen; each his task to do, / In forwarding some merchant’s laden’d bark, / Advancing much his interests, and the weal / Of such communities of sea-girt isles; / (The sea, the highway chief of seaboard states; / When seamanship was rude, and crafts but small, / Long voyages were made in sight of land!)— / Or they have been in requisition called / For warriors’ gallies, as they sped to explore / New fields for conquest, in their lust for power!
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Canto Fourth in The New Zealand Survey
- As when a beaten army would retire / Before a braver or superior force; / As if such to the last would fain retain / Position, yielding only inch by inch;
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Canto V in The New Zealand Survey
- The peaceful and happy state of the Natives round Port Nicholson, when the above lines were written, may be known from the fact, that many of them had got located in places, and that in open camp, where in former times they dared not venture. Before the arrival of the first settlers in the Colony, the pas or villages of the natives, were strongly fortified, so as to resist the sudden intrusion of an enemy; but since then, their fortifications are greatly at a discount,—as now they are not required. At the time when the first settlers came, the Port Nicholson natives were in a state of warfare with some of their neighbours, though they seemed to have the upper hand, yet they were in a state of dread. But by-and-bye one of the chiefs, who one day being in his garden, was surprised and killed by one of the enemy, who was there lying in wait, and his head was taken away, I believe, as utu or payment for what damage the enemy had sustained. Since then no alarm of war has troubled them, save when they were a little startled at what was called the Maori row of 1845. Now, all their pa defences have fallen into disuse. With the natives, their spears and clubs have become plough-shares, spades, and hoes; and the only defences they now require are such as may keep their cattle and pigs from their crops.
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Canto First in The New Zealand Survey
- Now a great turgid torrent, raging high / Beyond all bounds, it rushes foaming on / With deaf’ning noise, as heav’n’s artillery / Of thunders uttered one continuous roar!
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Auld Jamie Waft.—A Song in The New Zealand Survey
- Auld Jamie had been a bright weaver of old, / And seldom was favored with silver or gold; / Though early and late he would ply at his craft, / Still blythe as a linnet was auld Jamie Waft. / And when to New Zealand auld Jamie did come, / To follow dame fortune and seek a fresh home; / In meeting with hardships he never shew’d saft, / But stick to his colours did auld Jamie Waft. / For Jamie when landed had scarcely a shilling, / But had a stout heart and twa hands that were willing / For all kind o’ wark though professing no craft; / So naething could wrang come tae auld Jamie Waft.
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Signs of the Times in 1853 in The New Zealand Survey
- Or if our legislators will, / When they begin to try their skill / At making laws, be like some rooks, / Who favour best themselves!—or books / In babies’ hands, turn’d upside down / When feigningly they lessons con; / Or if, when in some hot dispute, / They either will themselves confute / Instead of fierce opponents; or / Give cause to lengthen out a war / Of opposite opinions, more / Than needful, to clear up some point,— / Though simple, yet with knotty joint, / Grown harder, as ’tis clad with words,
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Canto Fifth in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- Where want of confidence prevails, and acts / The very poison of all social life?— / If civil war’s a curse to any land,
- Love, like the threefold cord, not easily broke, / Their hearts in strength uniting, has them bound, / And made incorp’rate: though with adverse things
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A Lay on Wanganui in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- To savage feuds, and deadly strife, / Though long thou hast a witness been; / Thou’rt waking to another life / Of usefulness, and joy, I ween!
- great convulsions would resume / Some ancient task, unfinish’d then; / T’ upheave those ridges ’bove the room / They held, ’mid many’ a briny fen! / Volcanoes bursting forth in rage / On yonder mountains, dreadly grand; / The sky bombarding, as, they’d wage / Aggressive war, while quaked the land. / Thus, from earth’s caverns deep were thown / Its molten bowels high in air, / As belch’d from cannon’s mouth anon, / Like rockets, neither small nor spare! / A startling sight to be beheld; / Aye, more than fancy well can shew,
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New Year Salutations, for 1863 in The Philosophy of Love. [A Plea in Defence of Virtue and Truth!] A Poem in Six Cantos, with Other Poems
- A happy New Year may we bid to the world: / May Nations in friendship, and concord unite! / The Banners of brotherhood wide be unfurl’d, / When Princes no longer in war shall delight!
Searching
For several reasons, including lack of resource and inherent ambiguity, not all names in the NZETC are marked-up. This means that finding all references to a topic often involves searching. Search for War as: "War". Additional references are often found by searching for just the main name of the topic (the surname in the case of people).
Other Collections
The following collections may have holdings relevant to "War":
- Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, which has entries for many prominent New Zealanders.
- Archives New Zealand, which has collections of maps, plans and posters; immigration passenger lists; and probate records.
- National Library of New Zealand, which has extensive collections of published material.
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, which has extensive holdings on the Auckland region and New Zealand military history.
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, which has strong holdings in Tāonga Māori, biological holotypes and New Zealand art.
- nzhistory.net.nz, from the History Group of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.