Letter III.

I said in my last that Thompson was absent from Waikato when I was there. The day I left he returned. I confess I am uncharitable enough to believe that he did not choose to meet me. If he had really wished it, a meeting could easily have been arranged after his return. About a month after my return to Auckland I received the following letter from him in reply to that which I had left for him in Waikato.

Tamahere,

January 21, 1862.

To Mr. Fox, the Mediator between the Maori and the Pdkeha,

Friend,

Salutations to you. I did not see your letter. I had passed on to Hauraki on the 22nd December. On the 25th I reached. Kauaeranga, and on the Saturday your letter passed on to Warekawa. On the Wednesday I reached Piako, and on the Friday I arrived at Peria. I there saw a letter from Te Paama (Mr, Palmer), saying that you were staying at Tamahere, waiting for me. On the Saturday I started for Tamahere. It was a very bad day, and I did not reach Tamahere. I passed the Sunday at Maungakawa, and started for Tamahere at six o'clock. Piripi came, and 1 asked him where Mr. Fox was. Piripi said, "He has returned to the town." "When did he return?" "This day." Enough; my annoyance was great at not having seen you. I reached Ngaruawahia at eleven, and went to Mr. Ashwel's. Mr. Ashwell said to me, "Your friend Mr. Fox has returned: the cause of his coming was to have some men appointed for Waitara, and also to have some discreet and intelligent Pakehas to investigate the Waitara case." Friend, your korero is very just, and would have been very good some time ago, while the fighting was going on. The object of making peace was that the fighting might cease; that the plans for Waitara might be deliberated upon, so as to ascertain if Governor Browne was right, and Te Eangitake wrong; for it was impossible to see who was in error while the war continued. I therefore said to the General, "Let your soldiers go, that the Maories may return to their own places: let the law have the care of Waitara; let a good man from the Queen investigate the case, that is, some person sent by the Duke of Newcastle to suppress the troubles in this land." This, oh friend, was my plan. At present I do not quite understand the doings of our friend (Sir George) Grey; I am not quite sure whether his thoughts are good or evil. Perhaps after some time I may know his thoughts Your plan is good, very good, and very just (or proper). This is the only thing that stops it. I do not know the thoughts of the Governor; we might waste time investigating, and afterwards there would be fighting at some other part. For instance, I am acquainted at the present time with some of the Governor's plans. page 14 I am very suspicious. A man named Perereka, of Patumahoe, who went to Taranaki, writes to me to say that the Governor has demanded payment for his having gone to Taranaki to fight. That is part of what I know: another thing is the persisting in stationing soldiers at Te la. These are the things that perplex me, I shall not now consent to Waitara being investigated. When the Governor ceases to plan, and when his thoughts and his works are good, then I will consent. As it is, O Friend, you and I will make arrangements by-and-by. Let me look about me at the present time. Perhaps there are some other works of the Governor's which are hidden from my eyes, which will perhaps be seen after a while. Hence my caution. It would be waste (work) for you and I to arrange when there may be war again.

From your Friend,

Wi Tamehana Te Waharoa.

I was greatly disappointed when I read this letter. I had read too many Maori letters to entertain any doubt as to its real meaning. It was clear that Thompson was playing his friends false, and that he was not desirous of removing the great stumbling-block in the way of re-establishing friendly relations between the Natives and the Government.

I determined, however, not to abandon the attempt. The Hawkes Bay Natives, a numerous and influential tribe, sympathizers with the King movement, but not committed to it, had, immediately on the appointment of Governor Grey, written to him, urging the investigation of Waitara, and expressing their desire to take part in it. Shortly after my receiving Thompson's letter it was arranged that the Governor and myself should visit the Hawkes Bay Natives, as well as several intervening tribes in the interior and on the East Coast. His Excellency did not carry out his intentions, but I did; and, after visiting Taupo, I met a very large gathering of Natives at Hawkes Bay. I told them of the proposal I had made to Thompson and how it had been received. They expressed great surprise, took up the subject with much warmth and earnestness, and undertook to com- page 15 municate with him upon it. Within two days after my interview with them their principal chiefs wrote him the following letter:—

Matahiwi,

March 6th, 1862.

Friend,

Salutations to you, and to all our dead there and here. The Governor's friend, Mr. Fox, came to us on the 4th day of March, to bring us the Governor's korero [word]. He came and said what he had to say. We listened, and then answered him. Potatou's word, at the commencement of the wrong at Waitara, was, that it should be investigated; that word which you spoke at Taranaki, that Waitara should be left for the law to investigate. That word was also spoken by us here. It was that word which gave strength to our Pakeha friends. That was the bravest word in all our talk: it went bravely to England, and won the battle there, and this is the result—the coming of Governor Grey. This was the word which we spoke to the Governor's friend"—namely, the delay in the investigation of the Waitara. Mr. Fox then said that it was you who caused the delay, in not giving a decided consent to the Governor and him to the investigation of Waitara. It was ascertained from your letter that you still seemed to object to the investigation. This put our thoughts out altogether, and we sought for a word in reply, and said, "Perhaps it was a mistake of the Pakeha's who translated your letter." We write, therefore, that you may fully explain it to us, that we may know; for it is not well to make fools of us, and of our Pakeha friends who have taken part with us, by objecting to the investigation which was publicly called for by us. Answer our letter quickly, so that when the Governor comes our talk to him may be clear. Enough.

From your loving friends,

Karaitiana

,

Renata

,

Noa

,

And from all the Runanga.

T

o Tamehana Te Waharoa.

A copy of the foregoing letter having been forwarded to me by a Mend in Waikato, I wrote to the Hawkes Bay Natives as follows:—

Mr. Fox To Karaitiana And Others.

Auckland,

3rd, 1862.

Friends,

After I spoke to you at Matahiwi on the 3rd March, I went to Port Nicholson, to Nelson, to Rangitikei, and to Taranaki. That is the reason I was so long in returning here to Auckland. When I got here I saw the Copy of the letter that you wrote to Tamehana Te Waharoa about the investigation of the wrong at the Waitara. Tour words to Tamehana are good. By-and-by we shall see what answer he will give you.

You say in your letter to Tamehana, "Perhaps it was a mistake of the Pakehas who translated your letter." No, my friends, there was no mistake. I send you with this a copy of Tamehana's letter to me. There you will see his words written, "I will not now consent to Waitara being investigated."

The word of Tamehana formerly to the Governor was, "Let the soldiers go, that the law may have the care of Waitara. Let a good man come from the Queen to investigate the case." Now when the Queen has sent out Governor Grey for that work, and he says, "Let there be six judges, three named by the Maori and three by the Pakeha," Tamehana answers, "I will not consent to Waitara being investigated." How, then, is the law to have the care of Waitara, if it is not to be investigated?

Now what are the reasons which Tamehana gives why he will not consent? First he says he does not know whether the thoughts of the Governor are good or evil. What reason is this? Tamehana said formerly, "Let the Queen send out a man to investigate." The Queen has sent one, and now Tamehana says, "I do not consent, for I do not know whether that man's thoughts are good or evil." My friends, if Tamehana really wished that wrong to be made clear, would these be his words?

Then again, Tamehana says "we might waste time in investigating: perhaps afterwards there might be fighting at some other part." My friends, if there are more wrongs between the Pakeha and the Maori, besides the Waitara, is that a reason why the page 17 Waitara should not be enquired into? It is this wrong not being enquired into which has caused the past fighting at Taranaki; that was your word, the word of Renata, and the others. Let this wrong be first removed by enquiry; then, if there are other wrongs, let them be enquired into also. But this is the first, the root of the evil.

If Tamehana were very sick, and the doctor were to offer him medicine to cure that sickness, perhaps he would say to the doctor, "No, I will not consent to take your medicine, for by-and-by I may be ill again in some other part." Would these be the words of a wise man? Should he not rather say to the doctor, "I will take the medicine now which shall cure my sickness: if I am ill by-and-by in some other part, I will take more medicine then, to cure that other illness also." These would be the words of a man who wished to be cured. He would not be thinking whether, at a future time, he might not be ill in some other part.

Now all the Pakehas [Europeans] who are in favour of peace are grieved at the answer of Tamehana. When the war was going on, those Pakehas said, "Let the war be stopped, that the matter may be enquired into, that we may see whose the wrong is, whether of William Kingi, or of Te Teira." Then Tamehana agreed with the General, and with Governor Browne, that the fighting should cease, and all the people, both Pakeha and Maori, waited to see that matter settled by the law. But Tamehana now says, "I will not consent, lest by-and-by there be fighting about something else, in some other part,"

We Pakehas say, therefore, "Now it is Tamehana who stops the road of peace." As you say, "he makes fools of the Maories and Pakehas who have taken part with them, by objecting to the investigation which was publicly called for by us both." But your: thoughts, Karaitiana, Renata, and the other chiefs of Hawkes Bay; are good about the "matter; and the earnest desire of the Governor and the Pakehas is to see this evil of the Waitara enquired into.

When Tamehana answers your letter, let me know what he says, and write me your thoughts also.

I am yours, &c.,

William Fox.

It seems from this that the interference of the Hawkes Bay Natives had been rejected, and that in very contemptuous terms. Thompson did not even answer their letter himself. They did not, however, let the matter drop, nor get angry at the manner in which they were treated. They carried out their intention of going to Waikato by attending the great Peria meeting, on the borders of that district, in October 1863, which was summoned by William Thompson for a general discussion on the prospects of the King party. They did not, however, succeed in inducing Thompson to agree to the investigation of Waitara. Bishop Selwyn, who was present, also failed in an attempt he made to attain the same end, and he was treated with scant courtesy and a very curt reply.

I think it will be generally admitted, that up to this point the Government had acted in a most candid and liberal page 19 manner. We were not met by Thompson in the same spirit. It was asserted by the natives on all sides, that during the period referred to a word from Thompson would have settled the Waitara dispute. His behaviour in reference to the transaction was a great disappointment to myself and others, who had looked to him as our right hand in the adjustment of this difficulty. The conclusion which his conduct forced upon us was, either that he is a double-minded man, or that he has not the courage (and few uncivilized men have) to act up to his own convictions when opposed to the opinions of the majority of his people.