This oration swept away all vestige of possible opposition as chaff before the wind. No one was bold enough to contend with the redoubtable Nopera, to agree with him were superfluous. The debate therefore abruptly closed with a general exclamation of "Ae, Ae" ("Yes, yes") and the assent and signatures of sixty of the principal chiefs were speedily obtained,[108 - The meeting concluded with a war dance, and general discharge of musketry, and a feast provided entirely at Nopera's expense. Not only did he refuse to accept any payment, but he added to his generosity by sending to the Governor a present of pigs and potatoes.] so that a few days later Captain Hobson was able to write from his sick-room to the Chief Secretary for the Colonies: "I am happy to report to your lordship that Mr. Shortland succeeded to the fullest extent."
The Ambassador to the west was Captain Symonds,[109 - Captain William Cornwallis Symonds was the son of Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy, and was Deputy Surveyor of New Zealand. He accompanied Dr. Dieffenbach on some of his exploring expeditions, and made maps of his observations. He was also an enthusiastic student of the native language, and collected a vocabulary of 3000 Maori words. He lost his life in 1841 through his canoe capsizing while crossing the Manakau Harbour.] an officer of the British Army, who immediately on receipt of his instructions proceeded to Manakau and there, aided by Mr. Hamlin, a Catechist of the Church Missionary Society, summoned at short notice a meeting of the chiefs. The Missionary explained to the assembled warriors the views of the British Government, and solicited their adherence to the treaty, but the opponents of the measure had been in advance of its advocates, and prejudice was already in the air. Amongst the most active in his hostility was the vacillating Rewa, who having reluctantly signed the document at Waitangi, had speedily recanted.[110 - Rewa had said at Waitangi that his opposition there had been inspired by the Bishop.] He now sought to make up for his apparent desertion from the ranks of the opponents by the violence of his attacks upon the Government, and Captain Symonds found the chief had been so successful in his misrepresentations that he was not able to do more at the first meeting than to dispel some of the doubts which the ingeniousness of Rewa had created in the minds of all. A few days later the chiefs were again in council, when new forces were gathered from the Waikato, Taranaki, and Taupo. With these Rewa had less influence, with the result that some signatures, and several promises were obtained from amongst the most influential men.
But now a new species of opposition was developed. The haughty Te Wherowhero, the potential king of the Waikato, felt that he had been slighted in not being bidden to consult with the Pakeha Governor ere this. Why had he been left to this late hour, and who were these who had been placed before him? His dignity was severely wounded; his aristocratic soul rebelled against such scurvy treatment, and in a fit of pique he wrapped his blanket about him and refused to sign.
Feeling that he must be satisfied for the present with whatever measure of success he had achieved, Captain Symonds left Manukau on April 3, and hauling his boats across the portage which divides the Manakau from the waters of the Waikato, he proceeded down the Awaroa river to the Church Mission station at the Waikato Heads. Here he was received with the utmost cordiality by the Rev. Mr. Maunsell[111 - The Rev. Robert Maunsell (afterwards Archdeacon Maunsell) arrived in New Zealand in 1835. He was a "ripe and trained scholar," and after he had mastered the native language became, next to Mr. Henry Williams, the leader of the Missionary movement. He rendered an invaluable service to the cause of Christianity by his translations of the scriptures and prayer-book into the Maori tongue. In July 1843 his house was destroyed by fire, and with it were lost the MSS. of his dictionary, and his revisions of the translated Psalms and Old Testament. He however courageously set to work again almost before the burns upon his hands had healed. A fund of £200 subscribed in England provided him again with a library.] who was waiting his coming with no small anxiety. Matters had almost reached a crisis with the Missionary, who in the previous month had taken advantage of a large gathering of natives for religious purposes to introduce the subject of the treaty, a copy of which had already been forwarded to him by the Lieutenant-Governor. The project had been received by the natives in the most friendly spirit, and signatures had been obtained with the utmost alacrity. One important feature, unobserved at the time, had, however, been omitted. No presents had been sent to the Missionary to distribute amongst the signatories. Exception had not been taken to this apparent lack of hospitality at the moment, but word had come into the settlement from the north that all who had signed the treaty at the Bay of Islands, and at Hokianga had been paid with the Governor's blanket. The insidious nature of this treatment had just dawned upon them when Captain Symonds arrived. The whole settlement was in a state of wildest excitement. Their Missionary had deceived them; payment had been withheld; their signatures had been wrongly obtained. To put matters right they loudly demanded the return of the offending paper that they might tear it to bits and scatter it to the winds. Symonds was, however, able to quieten the tumult with timely explanations, and, what was more to the purpose, distributed a number of blankets amongst the chiefs, promising a similar gift to all others who would subscribe to the terms of the treaty.
The expedition displayed by Mr. Maunsell, but which had come so perilously near wrecking his own influence, proved an unexpected boon to Captain Symonds, who on examination of the signatures thus obtained discovered that with few exceptions all the influential chiefs as far south as Mokau, had acknowledged the sovereignty of the Queen. These few were resident in the districts of Aotea and Kawhia, and were within the sphere wherein was labouring the Rev. John Whiteley,[112 - Afterwards massacred at the White Cliffs.] of the Wesleyan Mission. To him accordingly Captain Symonds wrote, "being well assured of the disposition on the part of the Wesleyan Mission to support the Government by every exertion in its power," and confided to him the execution of that portion of his instructions which he deemed could be more expeditiously carried out by the Missionary than by himself.
On April 18 Captain Symonds returned to Manakau, and there obtained seven more signatures. Te Wherowhero[113 - Neither Te Wherowhero nor his brother, Kati, appear to have signed the treaty.In the appendix to Kerry Nicholls' King Country appears the following as a portion of the late King Tawhiao's autobiographical narrative: "I remember a European coming to ask Te Wherowhero (Tawhiao's father) to sign the treaty of Waitangi. That European was Mr. Maunsell. The Maori he had with him was Tipene Tahatika. Te Wherowhero said he would not sign. Mr. Maunsell remarked to Tipene, 'This ignorant old man, if he had signed, I would have given him a blanket.' Te Wherowhero was then at Awhitu. Te Wherowhero's name was afterwards put to the treaty, but it was written by Te Kahawai, and not by himself."] was still obdurate, though manifesting no ill-will towards the Government. His native pride had been hurt, and time had not yet healed his injured spirit.
In these latter negotiations Captain Symonds laboured under the considerable disadvantage that he was unable to procure the services of a competent interpreter, Mr. Hamlin[114 - Mr. Hamlin, though laying no great pretensions to scholarship, was considered by the Maoris to be the most perfect speaker of their language in New Zealand.] being absent on duties incidental to his station. The lack of all public ceremonial was also to his disadvantage, the pageant of which ever appeals with persuasive force to the impressionable mind of the savage; while the surroundings were not altogether without the suggestion that the crozier was still secretly opposing the Crown.
For the purpose of preserving the consecutive nature of our narrative it will be convenient at this point to digress for a moment, and in that time discuss a debatable point which must ere now have occurred to the reader, viz. what was Bishop Pompallier's attitude towards the treaty? To aid our judgment in this connection two classes of evidence are available, – that of the Protestant Missionaries and the official despatches of those engaged in the promotion of the treaty, on the one side, and the personal statement of his position by the Bishop on the other. Bishop Pompallier had landed at Hokianga in 1838 for the purpose of establishing a branch of the Roman Catholic Oceanic Mission, of which he had been appointed Vicar Apostolic. We have his assurance, which may be accepted without reservation, that he hoped to labour in a part of the country where he would not come into conflict with other Missions, and it came to him as a surprise, and probably as a deep disappointment, when he discovered that the existing Missions had so far covered the country that no such isolation was possible at Hokianga, upon which he had determined as the centre of his operations. But having come he decided to remain; and his advent was a bitter trial to the representatives of the Protestant Missions, who foresaw in it a serious interruption of their work by the introduction to the Maori of doubts and controversies which, while disturbing, were not essential either to their civilisation or to their soul's salvation.[115 - "Here I may remark that it is impossible to view with unconcern the injurious tendency of religious dissensions among a people just emerging from paganism. Between the disciples of the Bishop and those who have embraced the doctrines of Protestantism there already exists a feeling which borders on hostility, and it is not unusual to hear the former taunted by their adversaries as worshippers of wood and stone, misguided unbelievers, devils, etc. To express sentiments of severe censure against the Roman Catholic Church and its followers is not the most efficient means of advancing the interests of the Protestant Church, and in reply to the illiberal language which is dealt forth so unsparingly on this subject, we may cite among innumerable other facts, the life and actions of Fénélon, the most blameless and virtuous of men, in proof that a Roman Catholic clergyman is not of necessity either a Jesuit or a hypocrite. But holding in view the admitted tendency of religious dissensions to unsettle and weaken the impression of Christianity in the minds of the natives of New Zealand, and at the same time to foster dissension and angry feeling it is certainly to be regretted that an attempt has been made to introduce the doctrines of Rome into a field already preoccupied by the active and zealous emissaries of the reformed Church." – Jameson.] Exactly what they anticipated would occur, did occur, with the result that the animosities of religious rivalry were kindled in a way that had never been known between the Anglican and Wesleyan Missions; and the absurdity was not infrequently witnessed of Maoris confidently discussing matters of dogma which for centuries have baffled solution at the hands of trained theologians. The effect of this was to sow the seeds of bitterness in the hearts of the Protestant Missionaries, and there is sometimes noticeable a dearth of charity in their references to the Bishop which unfortunately is not singular in Church history.
We may, therefore, discount on the grounds of prejudice their accusations against the "Catholic Bishop" as much as we please, but we have still to account for the awkward fact, to which Mr. Colenso has drawn pointed attention, that the most violent opposition to the treaty at Waitangi came from the chiefs living under the religious guidance of Bishop Pompallier. The same circumstance was noted by Captain Hobson at Hokianga, by Captain Symonds at Manakau, and by Major Bunbury at Tauranga. Was, then, this widespread disaffection amongst the Catholic converts merely a coincidence? or was it the fruit of suggestion?
It has to be admitted that whatever feelings animated the Protestant Missionaries, at least Captain Hobson was not the victim of religious prejudice. From the first he adopted an attitude of most respectful deference towards the Bishop, a partiality which the Frenchman was not slow to observe and comment upon. When, therefore, the Lieutenant-Governor, took the responsibility of stating in his despatch to Sir George Gipps (February 17, 1840), "The influence against me was easily traceable to the foreign Bishop of the Roman Catholic persuasion," he is at least entitled to the credit – considering the character of the man – of our believing that he would not have made so bold an assertion had he not been fortified by the conviction that there was evidence to support it. The same measure of confidence must be accorded to Captain Symonds, a military officer of, so far as we can judge, the highest integrity. In reporting the result of his mission at Manakau he records the fact that "Rewa the principal follower of the Roman Catholic Bishop, exerted all his influence against me," and that on his return to this settlement from the Waikato Heads a few days later, he was still unable to secure the signatures of certain chiefs, a failure which he attributed "partly to the Bishop's influence." Again bluff Major Bunbury tells us that when at the Otumoetai Pa, near Tauranga, "Another chief expressed some indignation because the Christian chiefs had not, as he said, met them. I presume he meant those from the other pa where Mr. Stack's influence was supposed to extend more than his own, and where a Roman Catholic Residency and the Catholic Bishop were supposed to have more influence."
Whether this failure on the part of the Christian natives to co-operate with the residents of Otumoetai in the consideration of the treaty meant their active hostility, or merely a negative indifference to the proposals of the Crown, is not clear, nor is it certain to what extent the influence of the Missionary Bishop and his assistant contributed to either of these conditions, if either existed. Certain it is, however, that neither exerted themselves to aid the consummation of the treaty. Of this fact Bishop Pompallier has made no secret so far as he himself was concerned, and it is unlikely that his clergy would adopt an attitude different to his own. Neutrality he makes the buttress of his position, professing a total disregard for politics; his whole concern being the spreading of the Church's influence and the refutation of heresy. Of this, a perusal of the Bishop's own statement is the least devious road to proof:
On January 184 °Captain Hobson arrived at the Bay of Islands with the qualification of English Consul and Vice-Governor of New Zealand, under the immediate control of the Governor of Sydney in New Holland. The corvette, the Herald, brought Captain Hobson and all the members of his approaching administration. The Protestant Missionaries spread the report amongst the natives that this time the Catholic Bishop was going to be taken out of the country by the English man-o'-war which lay at anchor off the coast. They said also that I would not dare to appear at the public meetings that the new Governor was going to hold with the Maori chiefs and the whites, to talk over with them his plans for the Colonial administration of New Zealand. All the natives in the country were astonished both at the arrival of a strange Governor, and at the strange reports that were flying about. The day after his arrival, the Maori chiefs received printed letters from Captain Hobson, inviting them to meet at a place in the Bay called "Waitangi," where a treaty was to be read to them in their own language, and afterwards signed by them. Many of the Catholic chiefs came to consult me, above all the great chief Rewa. They asked me what was to be done under the circumstances in which their country was placed, and whether they ought or not to sign. I answered them that these were political matters which were outside my province. I was only in this country to pasture souls in the word of God, and direct them in the faith, morality, and the Catholic discipline, confer the sacraments of salvation on persons of whatsoever nationality who should have recourse to my ministry in a proper disposition, and that there ended my divine mission. It was for them to determine what they might desire to do with their national sovereignty; whether to keep it or to transfer it to a foreign nation; they were therefore at liberty to sign or not, to sign the treaty which was going to be put before them; that for myself and my clergy we were prepared to exercise our ministry of salvation for those who signed in the same manner as for those who did not sign. In a word, we were prepared to instruct them in the faith whether they continued to be New Zealanders or became English. Now in this way I kept myself entirely aloof from politics, and the people were at liberty to do as seemed best to them, with regard to their social state of life, and I remained free in what concerned my ministry for the spiritual and Christian life they had to follow in the Catholic Church. I went dressed in my Episcopal cassock, to the great meeting of the chiefs of the Bay of Islands with the whites, over which Captain Hobson presided. His Excellency was surrounded by the officers of the corvette and by a number of Protestant Missionaries. My coming was a great surprise to the latter, and to the natives who had heard that I should never dare to appear there. Captain Hobson received me with much civility and respect, and caused me to be put in a place of distinction. A political treaty which the English Government wished to conclude with the Maoris was read and explained to them. By virtue of this treaty the Maoris became English subjects; they remained masters of their landed property, but they were not allowed to sell, as formerly to private purchasers. If they desired to sell any of their land they could only do so with the consent of the Colonial Government.
While the speeches were being made on behalf of Captain Hobson and the chiefs of the Maori tribes I remained silent; I had nothing to say; they were simply about political matters. One question, however, interested me deeply, it was that of religious freedom about which no one in any way seemed to trouble themselves. Before the last meeting broke up, and it became a question of signing the treaty I broke silence. I addressed Captain Hobson, begging him to make known to all the people the principles of European civilisation which obtain in Great Britain, and which would guarantee free and equal protection to the Catholics as to every other religion in New Zealand. My demand was immediately acceded to by Captain Hobson, who made a formal notification of it to all the assembled people, to the great satisfaction of all the Catholic chiefs and tribes, who triumphed in the fact of my presence in the face of the Protestant Missionaries, and at the speedy compliance with the few words I had spoken. As to the political treaty, was it or was it not understood by the natives? That is a mystery difficult to solve. The result was that some chiefs signed it and some did not. But the Catholic religion gained instead of losing its dignity and its influence over the minds of the people. When a certain number of natives had signed the treaty the sovereignty of England over the whole of New Zealand was declared by a salvo of artillery fired by the corvette Herald. The English flag floated over the country, and Mr. Hobson took the title of Vice-Governor of New Zealand. As for myself, I exercised my ministry as freely as before over all parts of this large archipelago. The Governor seemed to have a particular regard for the Catholic Bishop. His Excellency promised that my future missionary vessel should be free from all imposts, and that everything that came to me from beyond the country for the purpose of my labours should be free from duty. My position at this time disappointed not a little the ill-will of those who had spread sinister reports about myself and my clergy, some weeks before. The people became more and more confident in the idea that Protestantism had always been deceiving them. They saw, moreover, that we had come to New Zealand but for them and the ends of salvation, in favour of every soul that lived in the country, not troubling ourselves as to what national flag they belonged. They saw in our hands but one standard, that of the cross that leads to Heavenly glory. At one time they had said the Catholic had come to seize upon the sovereignty of New Zealand, and they beheld him remaining and working just as before, after possession had been taken. Many natives in their uprightness said, "It was all very well for the Protestant Ministers to tell us so much about the Catholic Bishop taking our country, but on the contrary, it was themselves, in their own nation who took it from us." From all these new circumstances there resulted on the part of the people, English and Maoris, but especially the latter, more esteem, more confidence, more attention for the Bishop and the Catholic Clergy.[116 - "During my residence at the Bay of Islands, on this occasion, I derived much pleasure from the acquaintance and conversation of M. de Pompallier, the chief of the French Catholic Mission to the South Seas, and Bishop of Oceania, who was held in high esteem by every individual in the settlement, not only on account of his polished and courteous demeanour, but from his more important merits of learning, professional zeal, and practical benevolence. Whatever may be said of his persuasion, it is at least evident that no motives of a worldly or ambitious nature could have thus induced a man of rank and wealth to devote himself to the arduous and hazardous duties of a missionary in the Pacific." – Jameson.]
The Bishop's publicly expressed views receive valuable confirmation from Captain Lavaud, of the French frigate L'Aube which reached the Bay of Islands in July 1840. After paying his respects to the Lieutenant-Governor, the Captain proceeded to the Bishop's house and there had an interview with the prelate, the substance of which he subsequently reported in the following terms to the French Minister of Marine:
I arrived at the Bishop's only in the afternoon, so long is the passage from Russell-town to Kororareka against contrary winds and tide. I was curious and impatient to hear what he might have to communicate to me. Still I was reassured as to the situation in which he found himself placed with regard to the authorities, by the very pleasing manner in which Mr. Hobson[117 - Captain Lavaud mentions that during this interview he had always addressed the Lieutenant-Governor as "Captain," and not as His "Excellency." He explains, however, that he did so "more by instinct than with any intention of being discourteous."] had just spoken of him to me: the feelings of esteem and consideration which he expressed; the respect his name evoked from all those present, and the well-deserved praise they gave to his character and his tolerance. Compared with the Anglican Missionaries he was the real good man, the friend of the poor and of the savages, having no other ambition than to call to the Catholic faith and to civilisation the natives, to whose happiness he consecrates his existence, hoping to receive in the other world a reward which his adversaries prefer to taste in this one. Their evangelic labours are thus always accompanied by schemes of aggrandisement of luxury, and of riches, things in which they have until now made considerable progress. To stop them nothing less was necessary than the prohibition of the Queen (of England) forbidding them henceforth to acquire land from the natives, and limiting the holdings to 2500 acres. These gentlemen were indeed not slow to notice that though they were occult instruments of British power in New Zealand, they were its first victims. One must not, however, believe that the Anglican, Wesleyan, Methodist, and other Missionaries occupy themselves exclusively, and all of them, with speculations and means of making their fortunes; they also occupy themselves with the instruction of the people, but I shall have opportunity later on of returning to this subject. On my arrival at Bishop Pompallier's I received the marks of kindness which that excellent pastor lavishes on all his fellow-countrymen. He thanked me more than it was necessary for him to do for all my care and attention towards the priests during the voyage, and he did not conceal from me that this little increase of subjects sent out to him by the Marist community had been so necessary for so long a time that it was no longer by twos, but by tens and even twenties that priests ought to be sent out to him to help him to save the people of New Zealand, of whom 25,000 were already on the way to Catholicism. He also told me how grateful he was to the French Government for the protection it granted him, as well as to his mission in these seas. He spoke to me of the acts of kindness of the King, of the Queen and the Royal family, and principally of the interest H.R.H. Madam Adelaide was taking in the success of his labours. I took great pleasure in listening to Monsignor Pompallier on this subject, but I had not lost sight of the fact that he must have other things whereof to inform me. I, too, since I had seen Captain Hobson, was rather eager for news, and curious to know the mission of the Herald. I therefore profited by the first opportunity I had to ask the Bishop to speak to me about the political events of this country, but Monsignor is like they all are, he loves his Mission, his successes, his hopes, and it was with difficulty he decided upon changing the subject of conversation, but at last he did it most graciously. I learned thus from him, that from the month of February 1839, Captain Hobson, who had arrived some days previously in the Bay of Islands, with the title of "Consul" had assumed the rank of Lieutenant-Governor of the Islands of New Zealand conferred on him by the gracious will of the Queen; that an assembly presided over by him, and attended by most of the great chiefs of the North Island, as well as several Europeans of distinction, Monsignor himself included, had taken place, the aim of which was to make known to the New Zealand chiefs that the Queen would grant her powerful protection to the New Zealand tribes who had solicited it, only under the condition that the treaty proposed to them would inform them that H.B.M. would extend her sovereignty over the Islands of New Zealand only as far as these chiefs would consent to sign it. I here transcribe this official document, yet but little known, and so singularly reproduced by some persons.[118 - The treaty is here transcribed in the Captain's Despatch.]
It will be noticed that at the Assembly of which I have just spoken, which was held in Busby's in Wai-Tanghi, there was not one single Frenchman, except Monsignor. They thought by their absence (at least that was their intention) to protest against what was taking place. The Bishop who certainly was not obliged to inform me of the motives that made him act differently, told me, however, that having received a special invitation from Mr. Hobson, he thought he ought not to refuse his presence, inasmuch as his Mission was quite a spiritual one, and that his being an ecclesiast put him outside of all politics, and that it was most necessary for the success of Catholicism in this country that all should be convinced that in that respect he was perfectly indifferent, that every day he was trying to avoid giving his conduct the slightest doubt of the purity of his intentions, that besides in the assembly Captain Hobson had in his address to the New Zealand chiefs, of whom several were Catholics, informed them that Bishop Pompallier, pointing him out, would remain amongst them, that he would be protected there, as well as the religion he preached, in the same manner as the British Missionaries and their co-religionists. At this assembly the New Zealanders appeared uneasy and anxious to know how the meeting would end, during which several speeches were delivered by the chiefs, partly to the Governor and partly to the New Zealanders themselves. At one moment it was feared the treaty would be rejected. Several chiefs spoke against it, and one of the most prominent, Rewa-Rewa, went as far as to say, "Let us drive away the white chief. What does he come here for? To take away from us the liberty you are enjoying. Do not believe his words. Do you not see that, later on, he will use you to break stones on the roads?"
This chief belonged to the Catholic religion, but his allocution was opposed by two of the principal chiefs of the Island, and of the district of Hokiangha, as well as by Pomare the nephew of the celebrated chief of that name of Kawa-Kawa, in the Bay of Islands, all partisans of the Williams Mission. This allocution (Rewa's) did not have the success he expected for it, and the acceptance took place, although without enthusiasm, by the majority of the members of the assembly. Several gave their adhesion by signing the treaty, others retired without signing, and already on the following day, after a few small gifts, the sovereignty of H.M. the Queen of England was proclaimed over the North Island of New Zealand. Eye-witnesses report that this declared sovereignty is a conjuring trick on the part of Captain Hobson, but in that case, at least we must admit that the trick was played rapidly and skilfully enough. Other official declarations were made on the same subject.
Here then are the facts – conflicting it is true – from which no doubt conclusions equally conflicting will be drawn. Having regard to the high character of the Bishop it is inconceivable that he would desire to do anything but that which was right. It is, however, equally possible that he experienced a difficulty in completely suppressing his national feelings, and that he had unconsciously created for himself the paradoxical position of being neutral as an ecclesiastic, and yet hostile as a Frenchman.
Along the populous shores of the Bay of Plenty, and in the interior behind Tauranga, Hobson had as his allies the Revs. Brown and Stack, while William Williams[119 - The Rev. William Williams does not appear to have obtained the signatures of Te Kani-a-Takirau or Houkamau amongst the chiefs of Waiapu. It is unlikely that men of importance such as these were overlooked, and we may therefore conclude that they objected to sign. Mr. Williams reported that he would require sixty more blankets to complete the gifts to the chiefs in his district. Mr. Williams was afterwards first Bishop of Waiapu.] carried the treaty from hapu to hapu through the rugged country on the eastern coast between East Cape and Ahuriri.[120 - The district now surrounding Napier.] In a like manner upon Missionaries Chapman and Morgan devolved the onerous task of bringing the turbulent Arawas at Rotorua into line. The manner in which these minor envoys laboured, and the extent to which they succeeded is modestly told in their letters to the Lieutenant-Governor; but this much must in justice be said, that though their proceedings were necessarily less picturesque in their setting, and less sensational in their climax, they were equally sincere with those who garnered in the wider fields, and who in consequence have loomed more prominently in the historical perspective.
A mission upon a more extensive scale and one fraught with more important issues was entrusted to the Rev. Henry Williams. To this virile Missionary was allotted the task of bearding the lion in his den, for the Lieutenant-Governor had every reason to believe that the officers of the New Zealand Company would use whatever influence they possessed to prevent the consummation of a policy which in its ultimate effects they surmised would be so prejudicial to their own. For this assumption events proved there was only too much justification. The Government had, however, put its hand to the plough; and in Mr. Williams, Colonel Wakefield found a match both in determination and diplomacy.
A small schooner, the Ariel, owned and sailed by Captain Clayton, was chartered for the journey, and late in March they set off, calling at Tauranga and Poverty Bay en route, leaving copies of the treaty for local circulation as they went. The Ariel reached Port Nicholson late in April, her coming being by no means a welcome circumstance to the principal agent of the Company. The first meeting between Colonel Wakefield and the Missionary took place on the Saturday after arrival, at the house of Mr. Hunter, and was more animated than friendly. The former had either not yet received – or chose to ignore – the private instructions of his superiors in England, to afford Captain Hobson all the aid and assistance in his power towards the attainment of British sovereignty.[121 - "I desire to impress upon you the anxious wish of the Directors that you, and all the servants of the Company, should do whatever may be in your power to promote the success of Captain Hobson's mission, and to accelerate as much as possible the time when it is to be hoped that he, as Her Majesty's representative may establish a British authority and the regular application of English law, not only in the Company's settlements, but throughout the Islands of New Zealand." – Extract from a letter written by Mr. John Ward, Secretary to the Company, to Colonel Wakefield, after the Company had been advised that its proceedings were illegal.]
For ten days the Colonel doggedly held on his course of opposition, during which time there was a frequent clash of wordy weapons, the soldier seeking to vindicate the independence of his settlement on the ground that they had acquired their rights from the chiefs prior to the intervention of the Crown; the missionary maintaining that no such rights could be acquired by British subjects without the consent of the Sovereign.
Whether or not the constitutional nature of this argument appealed to the Colonel, it is impossible to say. In all probability it did not, but there are ample reasons for concluding that the governing influence in his conduct was a desire to obtain possession of a block of forty acres of land in what was then the most valuable portion of the infant settlement of Wellington, and to which Mr. Williams had acquired an undoubted title. Wakefield's subsequent actions at least indicate that his surrender did not carry with it his conversion to the treaty, which he still strove to persuade himself could not affect the purchases of the Company. But whatever the considerations that influenced him, just as the Missionary was preparing to depart in disgust, he at length[122 - "On the Wednesday following, while preparing to take my departure – not being able to obtain the signatures required owing to the opposition of Colonel Wakefield and others, to the treaty between the chiefs and Her Majesty – Colonel Wakefield came to me, making a most ample apology, and expressed his regret that he should have given way to his hasty feelings on the previous Saturday, and hoped that I should not leave the port with unfavourable feelings, and that he was ready, if I wished, to make a public apology. The fact was that Colonel Wakefield wanted the land, and was willing to make any sacrifice confined to words." – Carleton's Life of Henry Williams.] consented to withdraw his objections to the chiefs considering the treaty, and retracting what Mr. Williams has been pleased to designate as his "insolent" remarks.
The character of the terms in which the Colonel was likely to address the Missionary may be judged from a paragraph in a letter indicted by him to his directors on May 25, 1840, in which he declares: "I cannot express to you the feelings of repugnance entertained by the respectable colonists who came into contact with Mr. Williams, towards him, on account of his selfish views, his hypocrisy, and unblushing rapaciousness. He frequently said that finding I had been before him in the purchase of land in the Strait without consulting him, he had endeavoured to do the best for himself, and had disparaged the Company and its settlers to the natives. On the whole, it was only by a great effort, and in the hope of benefiting the colony that I could bring myself to hold any terms with this worst of land-sharks."[123 - This letter, written subsequent to the Colonel's apology, was first made public through the columns of the London Times, and it was not for months afterwards that Mr. Williams heard of it. The history of the land transaction referred to, which excited the indignation (righteous or otherwise) of Colonel Wakefield, is fully told in that interesting book, Hugh Carleton's Life of Henry Williams, vol. i. pp. 237-243, and should be read by all impartial students of the question.]
The hostility of the Company's principal agent once removed, thirty-two of the chiefs signed the treaty readily enough on the 29th of the month, the impression made on Mr. Williams's mind being "that they were much gratified that protection was now afforded to them in common with Her Majesty's subjects."
In his marked antipathy to Mr. Williams and all that he did Colonel Wakefield has endeavoured to deprecate the value of these proceedings in his report to his superiors, wherein he takes the responsibility of saying, "The natives executed some paper, the purport of which they were totally ignorant," and insinuates that the whole transaction took place in an underhand way and had neither the countenance nor the assistance of the colonists.
The Ariel then crossed over to Queen Charlotte Sound, "where," says Mr. Williams in his Memoir, "we saw all who were to be seen there. We crossed over to Kapiti, Waikanae, and Otaki the stations of the Rev. O. Hadfield. The treaty was explained at all these places and signed.[124 - Amongst others, by Te Rauparaha and his niece Topeora, the poetess, on May 14.] On this visit I saw in the Bank at Wellington a map of New Zealand about six feet in length, and was told by the authorities of the New Zealand Company that the coloured portion was the property of the Company from the 38° to the 42° parallel of latitude. At this time there was no one in connection with their Company who knew anything of the language. A man named Barret could speak a few words in the most ordinary form. This man alone was the medium of communication between the Maoris and the Company in all their affairs, and the deeds of purchase were drawn up in English, not one word of which was understood by the Maoris."
It had been Mr. Williams's intention, after completing the collection of the signatures in the vicinity of Cook Strait, to proceed to the far South, soliciting the assent of the Ngai-Tahu tribe to the terms of the treaty. To this end he had already entered into an arrangement with Captain Clayton, who like the loyal sailor he was, readily agreed to forgo his more lucrative coastal trade in order that his vessel might remain at the disposal of the Government. Before this section of the voyage could be undertaken, however, it was ascertained that the Governor, deeming the mission worthy of some more ostentatious display of power than could be effected by a schooner, had commissioned Major Bunbury of the 80th Regiment to sail with Captain Nias in Her Majesty's frigate Herald,[125 - Immediately after his seizure, Captain Hobson had dispensed with the services of the Herald, on account of his personal differences with her Captain. She then returned to Sydney, but Sir George Gipps sent her back again, telling Captain Nias that "naval co-operation was essential to the enterprise at New Zealand, as the Queen's sovereignty was established over only a small portion of the Northern Island."] for the purpose of visiting the more important Southern settlements.
On hearing of this, Mr. Williams returned with all expedition to his duties at Waimate, which place he reached on June 10, bringing with him the famous Ngati-Awa chief, Wiremu Kingi, whose anxiety to see the Governor had induced him to travel all the roadless miles which lay between Waikanae and the Bay of Islands.
On the submission of his report to the Governor, Mr. Williams was the recipient of the most hearty congratulations from Captain Hobson, who recognised in the service of the Missionary an arduous task well and faithfully performed in the interests of the Crown.
On the morning of April 28 the Herald left her anchorage in the outer harbour of the Bay of Islands, carrying with her Major Bunbury,[126 - Major Bunbury, K.T.S., and a portion of his regiment (the 80th) were sent to New Zealand by Sir George Gipps in H.M.S. Buffalo, as the result of a request from Captain Hobson for some military support. They left Sydney just as the news of Captain Hobson's illness reached the seat of Government, and Major Bunbury was given a commission to act as Lieutenant-Governor in the event of Hobson's death or resignation.In his Reminiscences the Major states that Captain Hobson begged him to undertake this Southern mission in order to relieve him (Hobson) from the necessity of again sailing with Captain Nias, with whom he had several violent quarrels about the salutes he was to receive and other similar details. "It was," says the Major, "a grievous sacrifice to make, the troops not having yet landed or arrangements been made for their accommodation, but I could not prevail upon myself to refuse him."] commissioned to accept the signatures of the Southern chiefs; Mr. Edward Marsh Williams engaged to act as interpreter, and a small company of marines whose presence it was thought would add somewhat to the impressiveness of the occasion. Captain Nias was authorised "to display the force of his ship along the coast," and Major Bunbury was furnished with complete instructions for the governance of his conduct in all his negotiations with the native people, which needless to say, were to be continued along the strictly honourable lines which had hitherto been observed by the Lieutenant-Governor. Pursuant to these instructions the Herald entered the Coromandel harbour next day (30th), and Major Bunbury, accompanied by Mr. Williams, landed at the house of Mr. Webster, an American whose claims to land in New Zealand have since been the subject of searching enquiry by his own country. The purpose of this visit was to arrange a time and place at which the chiefs might be invited to a korero. Monday May 4, and Mr. Webster's establishment were selected to fill these essentials, and messengers were accordingly despatched to the various surrounding pas to bid the chiefs to the conference. Hearing that the Scottish exile, Captain Stewart, the discoverer of the southern Island which bears his name, was at Mercury Bay, a special messenger was hurried off to him requesting that he would pilot the Herald in these waters, and likewise use his influence with the chiefs of Mercury Bay in the direction of securing their presence at the meeting, to both of which the sealer Captain gave a ready response.
"On the day appointed," so writes the Major, "Captain Nias, with several officers of the ship, together with Mr. Williams and myself, went on shore at 11 o'clock, but no native chiefs had at that hour assembled. A considerable number of Europeans appeared, however, to have been attracted by the report of the expected meeting. Subsequently a number of natives did assemble with six chiefs of different tribes. Mr. Williams explained the treaty; its object in consequence of the increasing influx of strangers; and that the claim for pre-emption on the part of the Crown was intended to check their imprudently selling their lands without sufficiently benefiting themselves or obtaining a fair equivalent. After a variety of objections on the part of the chiefs we succeeded in obtaining the signatures of four, one of these being the principal chief of the district the celebrated Horeta,[127 - Horeta te Taniwha, the celebrated chief known as "Hook-nose," who remembered Cook's visit to New Zealand.] of Bannin's Island notoriety. The principal orator, an old chief named Piko, and another of inferior note, refused to sign, alleging as a reason that they wanted more time to assemble the different tribes of the Thames district, and to consult with them, when they would also sign; but that he could, for himself, see no necessity for placing himself under the dominion of any prince or queen, as he was desirous of governing his own tribe."
This policy of procrastination was obviously induced by the intelligence which had reached them of the arrest at the Bay of Islands of a native, Kiti, for the murder of Mr. Williams's shepherd, Patrick Macdonald, and of his trial and subsequent condemnation. They did not complain of the injustice of the punishment, but the whole proceeding was so novel in its character, and so dubious in its ultimate result that they felt prudence warranted a deeper reflection than the subject had yet received. They therefore hesitated before committing themselves to a policy, the end whereof they could not see.
There was also a passing difficulty with those chiefs who signed the treaty, for these gentlemen elected to entertain so exalted an idea of the Queen's munificence that they deemed the homely blanket offered to them as being altogether unworthy of so great a Sovereign's generosity, and expressed a decided preference for forage caps and scarlet cloaks. There was greater unanimity displayed over the feast of pork and potatoes which Major Bunbury had thoughtfully provided for their entertainment before he left.
After completing arrangements for securing the signatures of a few eligible chiefs who were living near the Mission station of the Rev. Mr. Preece, Major Bunbury, late in the evening of Friday the 8th, took his departure from Coromandel in the schooner Trent, chartered from Captain Bateman, and coasted round to Tauranga, a district where, in consequence of a war with the Rotorua people, the claims of the Crown had not been enthusiastically received. On Sunday, at nightfall, the vessel arrived at the entrance of the harbour, but prudent seamanship dictated the wisdom of remaining in the offing till the morning, when the treaty party landed at the Mission station and were welcomed by Mr. Stack.
"I was agreeably surprised," wrote Major Bunbury to Captain Hobson, "to learn that most of the native chiefs in this neighbourhood had already signed the treaty, the exception being the principal chief, and one or two of his friends at the Omimoetoi (Otumoetai) pa. This pa we visited the same evening, accompanied by Mr. Stack. It was a very extensive fortification, and appears to contain about one thousand men. The chief who had declined signing is a very young man, and his manner was timidly reserved and less prepossessing than most of those I had before seen. On our taking leave he made the usual remark, that he wanted to consult the other chiefs, and that he would meet us with them at the Mission station on the morrow. On the following day he did not speak until the close of the conference, and then only in private to Mr. Williams – after Mr. Stack and I had left them – to enquire how much he was to get for his signature.[128 - This was what the natives called "making their hearts good." "Pay us first and we will write afterwards." "Put money in my left hand and I will write with my right hand," was how they often expressed it.] Another chief expressed some indignation because the Christian chiefs had not – as he said – met them. I presume he meant those from the other pa where Mr. Stack's influence was supposed to extend more than to his own, and where a Roman Catholic European residentiary and the Catholic Bishop are supposed to have more influence."
A third chief, evidently of an enquiring mind, created some amusement by his quaint method of arriving at a complete analysis of the position. The debate had to all appearances closed – his own speech being no small contribution to the oratory of the day – and he was approached with a view to securing his signature, he firmly deprecated everything in the nature of hurry, and calmly taihoa-ed[129 - Taihoa = delay, postpone, put off, reserve for further consideration.] the whole proceeding.
"Now first let us talk a little," he said. "Who was the first stranger who visited our shores?"
On being told it was Captain Cook, he continued, "And who was Cook's king, was he not Georgi?"
To this a reply was returned in the affirmative. "And who then," he asked, "is this Queen?"
Major Bunbury took some trouble to explain to him that the King George to whom he referred had been dead for some years, as also his two sons George IV. and William IV., who had succeeded him on the throne, and that the present Queen now reigned because she was the next in line to these dead monarchs.
This modest little dissertation on the Royal genealogy appeared to satisfy him on that point, for he immediately adverted to the native wars, and more particularly to their own hostilities with the Rotorua tribes. Major Bunbury assured him that one of the principal objects of his mission was to persuade all the tribes at present at war to accept the mediation of the Governor, and to induce them to abide by his decision.
"If then your nation is so fond of peace, why have you introduced into this country firearms and gunpowder?" was his pertinent rejoinder.
To this Major Bunbury replied that the effects of this traffic had been much deplored by Her Majesty's Government, who were most anxious to mitigate its consequences by substituting justice and a regular form of government in their country for the anarchy which had prevailed, but this could only be done by the surrender of the sovereign rights to the Queen as asked for in the treaty.
His next enquiry was whether the Queen governed all the white nations?
"Not all," replied Major Bunbury, "but she is the Queen of the most powerful white nation." The Major then went on to explain that Britain had acknowledged the Maoris as an independent nation, but that arrangement had proved abortive in consequence of the native wars and their want of cohesion. To themselves alone therefore were to be attributed the evils from which they suffered. As a corrective for these political troubles the Government had not leagued themselves with other white nations to force an unwelcome authority upon them, but they had come direct to the Maoris themselves, and asked them as a spontaneous gift to vest in Britain the power to avert the evils which were assuredly accumulating round them; evils due to the increasing influx of the Pakeha, and who must otherwise remain subject to no law and amenable to no control.
"On being told," continues Major Bunbury's report, "that I was a chief of a body of soldiers, and that I had served under the monarchs already named, he enquired should his tribe, agreeable to my request, abstain from making war upon the natives at Rotorua, would the Governor send a portion of my force to protect them? I told them Your Excellency desired rather to mediate between them, and only in cases of extreme emergency would you be prevailed upon to act in any other manner. If, however, your arbitration was applied for I had no doubt the custom of their country would be complied with, by your insisting on a compensation being made to the party injured, by the party offending."
Major Bunbury then dwelt upon the sale of native lands, and the right of pre-emption claimed for the Queen, explaining that this restriction was intended equally for their benefit, and to encourage industrious white men to settle amongst them to teach them arts, and how to manufacture those articles which were so much sought after and admired by them. This course, he pointed out, was preferable to leaving the sale of large tracts of country to themselves, when they would almost surely pass into the hands of men who would never come amongst them, but would by their speculations hamper the industrious. The Government being aware of the intentions of these men – many of whom had no doubt counselled them against signing the treaty – would nevertheless unceasingly exert themselves to mitigate the evils following in the train of the speculators, by purchasing the land directly from the natives at a more just valuation.
To this the Nestor of the tribe replied that there was but cold comfort in that for them, as their lands had already gone to the white men, but the land had been fairly sold and fairly bought.
Feeling that he had now said all that he could say of a nature likely to influence the chiefs, and knowing the constitutional abhorrence on the part of the Maori to hurry in such matters, Major Bunbury intimated that he had still another pa to visit, and departed, leaving Mr. Williams to answer any new points which might be evolved in the fertile brain of the men who spoke for the tribe. Their further deliberations, however, took a pecuniary rather than a legal turn. Presents were demanded, and when Mr. Williams indicated that Major Bunbury would doubtless arrange that Mr. Stack should distribute his gifts to those entitled to receive them the sceptical diplomat, who believed in having his bird in the hand, was candid enough to remark that he was not enamoured of prospects so remote.