The following circumstances—that the colonists already pay taxes, in the shape of Customs duties alone, to the amount of about £4 per head, being double the rate of contribution from all sources to page 66 the revenue by the population of the United Kingdom; that a comparison of probable cost with produce puts the idea of the direct taxation of 100,000 people scattered over a large territory quite out of the question, even if their actual taxation through the Customs were not already heavy enough; that a few thousand adult males in detached settlements round a coast more extensive than that of England cannot provide a combined force to move on the offensive against a central enemy; that the Maori people are intelligent active and courageous in war, and their country peculiarly impenetrable; that the interests of a colony are urgently opposed to unremunerative war, from the mere fact that its prosperity depends upon its power not only to retain a population not yet firmly rooted in its territory but to attract others from abroad;—these circum stances are worth stating, though they may not bear directly upon the present argument. The question is not so much what the colony can do, as what it ought to do. Yet two considerations are suggested by these facts which it is important to notice.

First, what would the colony do if left without assistance in the management of native affairs? I am sure that the colonists of New Zealand would not swerve from the doctrine which teaches humanity to the inferior race and a recognition of the rights of aborigines. They would endeavour to the best of their ability to civilize elevate and preserve the page 67 race by judicious measures of government. They would restrain and punish members of their own body who should attempt to injure their Maori neighbours. In short, all that intelligence and philanthropy might prompt they would try to do. Many indications already suffice to prove that this is not an empty boast. But they could not exhibit to the natives the other equally necessary side of government, the strong arm of the law, the power to restrain as well as to encourage, to punish as well as to reward. For a generation yet to come there will he no means in the colony adequate to such a purpose. A policy upheld by no force, and a force which upholds no true policy, are equally impotent for the redemption of the savage. Justice there, as elsewhere, needs the sword as well as the balance. Against turbulence, anarchy, or overt rebellion within the Maori border, the Government would be helpless. A timid, temporizing, cajoling and procrastinating policy must be employed in any such crisis. Could it succeed in preserving elevating and civilizing the race ? Certainly not. On the other hand it is evident that an attempt to maintain such a system of government among the white population must fail. The policy, though begun in the best spirit, would in the very probable event supposed break down utterly. No body of settlers would endure long the pains and penalties of a partial law, not receiving any advantages from it in the shape of protection; which if the law failed for many years page 68 to give them would be sought in some other way. Against the urgency of this feeling no Government could continue to carry on a confessedly futile policy. In short, Government without force to back it would be thoroughly unreal; and the attempt which would doubtless be made to establish it on the basis of an enlightened policy would result in the subversion of government and policy together; And the case supposed is already in existence. Anarchy and lawlessness prevail among the interior tribes. The consequences which might follow the unaided efforts of the colonists under favourable circumstances must follow any such efforts if now begun.

Secondly, on what terms could the colonists carry on an efficient Government ? Very easily and very profitably for themselves, if they were careless of British engagements to the aborigines, or of any end but their own interests. To declare the wide and fertile lands of the natives the property of the State, to invite an army of determined men, to pay them in the soil they should conquer, and to reduce the surviving natives to the occupation of no more territory than they could use, would be a very cheap and most effectual plan for pacifying the country and opening it to the influences of civilization and good government. The end might even be achieved without much cruelty or bloodshed; though, from the character of the natives and their country, it is more probable that the Joss of life would be great on both sides. New Zealand is not too page 69 large for such an experiment. There are plenty of men in Europe and elsewhere who would be glad enough to serve in the New Zealand army on such terms, even though the best settlers of to-day should quit the country in disgust. Nothing forbids the attempt but British honour, involved in the promise that has been pledged in solemn treaty by the Superior to the inferior race.

The alternatives of principle before the Imperial Government are perfectly plain, Either such force as a great nation only can supply must be maintained to support a system of real government among the aborigines until it be fairly established; or, if that force is to he saved, treaty obligations must be cast off, and a less honorable if simpler process adopted.

If the latter alternative be preferred, the colony has a right to demand that the shame of repudiating obligations, breaking promises, and abandoning a philanthropic undertaking for the sake of economy shall be borne by the English nation itself through its Government; and that the disgraceful task shall not be left to be performed, unwillingly and under the pressure of adversity, by the colony.

The first step maybe taken now most conveniently. England complains that the government of the New Zealand natives has cost such and such sums of money—" a very appreciable iem,' says the Duke of Newcastle, "among those which fix on the British tax-payer the burden of an income-tax." page 70 The burden is sought to be thrown upon the settlers in the colony. But they are not the body in whose government this money has been spent. The rule is that the subjects of a Government should pay its expenses. In this case those subjects are the Maori people. Let them be called on for the cost. If they have not money, as they have not, let their land, which is the only equivalent, be taken. And then it will be known for the future that consideration for aborigines is no longer to stand in the way of a proper adjustment of the burden of expenditure.