I have the honour to acquaint your Excelleney that immediately on my arrival here I circulated notices printed in the Native language that on this day I would hold a meeting of the chiefs of the Confederation, and of the high chiefs who had not yet signed the Declaration of Independence, for the purpose of explaining to them the commands I had received from Her Majesty the Queen, and of laying before them the copy of a Treaty which I had to propose for their consideration.

Accordingly a vast number of chiefs, with a multitude of followers, crowded in from every quarter, and at 12 this day they assembled under spacious tents, decorated with flags, which had been previously erected at Waitangi by the direction of Captain Nias, of this ship.