McDonough (the magistrate at Wellington) set about collecting, with
all possible speed, all available information concerning the disaster
from those of both races who had been present, and who had now arrived
at the settlement. Amongst those whose depositions were taken were two
Maori boys, who had both been wounded, and were being taken care of by
female relatives. Their story was a general corroboration of the Maori
version, and they were both unanimous in declaring that, when the
Europeans were overtaken on the brow of the hill, Puaha, who was one
of the first to reach them, offered them his hand and did all in his
power to obviate further bloodshed by pointing out that he had counted
the slain, and, as both sides had exactly the same number shot, there
was no need for further _utu_. In this view Rauparaha at first
concurred, but he finally gave way before the vehement protestations
of Rangihaeata, who reminded him in violent tones of his duty to his
dead relative, Te Rongo. He had then allowed his enraged lieutenant to
work his wicked will, which Puaha and his people, being unarmed, were
powerless to prevent. At the conclusion of his inquiry, Mr. Spain left
for Wellington, taking the wounded with him; and those of the
survivors who had escaped uninjured proceeded back to Nelson, some in
the boats and some overland. Before leaving the port Mr. Tuckett was
authorised by Colonel Wakefield to act as agent for the settlement
until the pleasure of the New Zealand Company should be known. His
journey home was rather an adventurous one, as he had a very narrow
escape of being intercepted by the natives when sailing through the
French Pass. Some of his companions who were venturesome enough to
call in at Tory Channel, were detained there for a week by the
natives, but were ultimately permitted to take their departure
unharmed.
The body of Mr. Maling, the chief constable, had not been found when
Mr. Ironside made his first search upon the scene of the massacre, a
fact which created no surprise at the time, for it was thought
probable that he had succeeded in making good his escape into the
bush. But, as he had not arrived at any of the settlements, the
missionary again returned to Tua Marina for the dual purpose of making
an extended search and of protecting the graves already made from
desecration by the wild pigs, with which the valley was at that time
thickly stocked. He was successful in finding two bodies floating in
the stream, being the remains of Clanzey and Ratcliffe, who had been
shot while crossing in the canoe. These were reverently interred on
the banks of the creek near where Mr. Patchett had been laid. The last
resting-place of these men bears no mark to distinguish it from the
surrounding landscape, but a plain though substantial monument has
been raised over the spot where Captain Wakefield and his companions
fell; while a memorial church, built by the Wakefield family, stands
prominently upon the point of the hill, and solemnly presides over the
whole scene.
It would be difficult to describe the intense excitement which
agitated the whole colony as the tidings of the massacre flew from
settlement to settlement; and in the white heat of their anger the
settlers were guilty of saying and doing many rash and intemperate
things. Few of them had made themselves conversant with the whole
facts of the case, and fewer still stayed to reason out the natural
actions of men under the circumstances. All that they knew, and all
that they cared to know, was that their countrymen had been, as a
Nelson settler forcibly expressed it, "brutally butchered by a parcel
of miscreant savages, ten thousand of whose useless lives would have
all too cheaply purchased their survival, let the cant of
ultra-philanthropists say what it will." But this fierce indignation
was not participated in by the Europeans alone. Flying from the scene
of the tragedy, Te Rauparaha arrived with his retainers at Waikanae,
cold and wet with the sea spray which had swept over him on the
passage across the Strait. He immediately assembled the Ngati-Awa
people and told them the tale of the massacre, holding their attention
by the graphic nature of his narrative. At first his listeners were
unsympathetic, but he appealed to their sympathies by feigning
physical distress. Bent in body and trembling in voice, he appeared to
speak with difficulty, and used a hacking cough with some effect to
melt their sternness. But his most telling point was made when,
advancing a few steps, he held up his shaking hands and dramatically
exclaimed, "Why should they seek to fetter me? I am old and weak; I
must soon pass away. What could they gain by enslaving me? by
fastening irons on these poor old hands? No; that is not what they
seek. It is because through my person they hope to dishonour you. If
they can enslave me they think they can degrade the whole Maori race."
This was the dart that struck deep into Maori pride, and wounded their
sense of honour. Instantly the tribe rose responsive to the
suggestion, and weapons were gripped, eyes flashed, and the spirit of
war surged in every breast. Missionary Hadfield was present, and saw
the sway wielded by the old chief's oratory. He saw, too, how critical
was the position, and gladly availed himself of the timely suggestion
made by one of the missionary natives to ring the bell for evening
prayers, and thus bring back the warriors' thoughts to a more peaceful
frame. Next morning Te Rauparaha journeyed to Otaki, and there
harangued the fighting men of Ngati-Toa. Here there was no need to
adopt the arts of the stage. His auditors were his own followers, many
of whom had been with him since childhood. They knew him and trusted
him, and with them his word was law. He therefore threw off the guise
of broken manhood, of fettered limbs, of tottering steps, and stood
before them the bold and imperious chief that he was. His words
ringing with the timbre of commanding confidence, were direct and to
the purpose. "Now is the time to strike. You see what the smooth
speech of the _pakeha_ is worth; you know now what they mean in their
hearts. You know now that tyranny and injustice is all that you can
expect at their hands. Come then and sweep them from the land which
they have sought to bedew with our blood."
In these warlike counsels he was ably seconded by Te Rangihaeata, who,
reasoning as a Maori would reason, had always strongly held the view
that, as the white men would be certain to seek satisfaction for the
massacre, their duty was to get what _utu_ they could while the
opportunity to do so was theirs. He therefore joined with his chief in
urging an immediate march upon Wellington, in order by one swift
stroke to obliterate the _pakeha_ and his settlements. These
sanguinary proposals were not preached to unwilling ears, for it was
but natural that the Maori should judge the settlers by their leaders,
the representatives of the New Zealand Company, whose bad faith now
appeared so audaciously transparent. But there was one chief who was
proof against the hysteria of blood which had seized the tribes. Side
by side with Hadfield he stood like a rock above the billows of hate
which surged around him, and by his calm and stedfast loyalty broke
the fury of the storm. This was Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake, the
Ngati-Awa chief of Waitara. His resolute opposition to Te Rauparaha's
plans was an obstacle which that chief could not overcome. He carried
his own people with him, while Hadfield soothed the Ngati-Raukawa into
neutrality. Without Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Awa, Ngati-Toa was not
equal to a task which with their united forces would have been a
simple matter. That the Maoris had the power at this time to drive
the colonists into the sea, had they chosen to exercise it, has been
freely admitted by the settlers themselves,[163] so that the service
which Wiremu and the good missionary Hadfield rendered to the Colony
at this juncture can only be estimated at the value of the infant
settlement itself. And, with regret be it said, Wellington is even now
destitute of any monument to which the passing generations might point
as a public recognition of the fact that these two men once stood
between it and extermination.
Before Te Rauparaha was able to extend his projects for avenging his
wrongs beyond his own immediate sphere of influence, he was visited by
Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the aborigines, who gave him
his most solemn pledge that the Government would not attack him
without first hearing his side of the question, and begged him to try
and keep the natives quiet until the case could be investigated.
Following close upon Mr. Clarke came Mr. Spain, deputed by the
magistrates at Wellington, and empowered to speak as one in
authority.[164] He strove to assure the natives that they were
mistaken if they imagined that the Europeans would wage war against
them indiscriminately by way of retaliation for the death of Captain
Wakefield and his comrades. The question of punishment rested solely
with the Governor, and, until he could decide who should be punished
and what the punishment should be, there would be no act of aggression
against the natives.
"Your words are very good, but who can tell what will be the words of
the Governor?" was the comment of one of the chiefs upon these
assurances. To this Spain could only reply by pointing to their past
intercourse, and asking if during their long acquaintance they had
ever known him to deceive them. Fortunately, his record stood him in
good stead, and the chief agreed that he for one would help to protect
the Europeans. While this discussion was proceeding, Rauparaha had
joined the assembly, and at this point he rose and delivered what Mr.
Spain considered "a most powerful speech." He traversed anew the
events which had led up to the _fracas_, and vehemently asked,
"Is this the justice which the Queen of England promised to the Maori?
You are not satisfied with having taken all our land from us, but you
send a Queen's ship headed by a Queen's officer to fire upon us and
kill us." Spain endeavoured to expound to the angry chief the niceties
of British law, under which a warrant to arrest did not necessarily
imply established guilt; had he surrendered he would probably have
been admitted to bail until the day of the trial, and, so far from the
Queen and the Governor being to blame for the conduct of the
magistrate, they had never heard of the warrant. On Spain expressing
his abhorrence of the killing of the captives, Te Rauparaha admitted
the error of the step, which he palliated as due to their own custom
and Rangihaeata's grief at the death of his wife. He then proceeded to
question Spain with an acumen which astonished the lawyer, and forced
him to form a very high estimate of the chief's intellectual capacity;
for his examination was as keen "as if I had undergone that ordeal in
Westminster Hall at the hands of a member of the English Bar." What Te
Rauparaha wished to guard against was treachery. He wanted everything
open to the light of day, and the conference ended by his saying to
Spain, "If the Governor should decide upon sending soldiers to take
me and Rangihaeata, let us know when they arrive, because you need not
take the trouble to send up here for us. If you only send word I will
come down to Port Nicholson with a thousand Maoris and fight with the
_pakehas_. If they beat us, they shall have New Zealand, and we will
be their slaves, but if we beat them, they must stand clear."
Mr. Spain next proceeded to Otaki. There he was told that the natives
intended to stand loyally by their chiefs, and that any attempt to
seize them would lead to immediate reprisals. Following closely upon
Mr. Spain's departure, Mr. Jerningham Wakefield reached Otaki. He came
from the north, and, as he drifted down the Whanganui River, he
received the first tidings of the death of his uncle. It was difficult
at first to give credence to the nebulous rumours which reached him;
but the constant reiteration of the same story about a fight with the
_pakehas_ and the death of "Wideawake" gradually compelled
attention, and ultimately received confirmation at the white
settlement then known as Petre.[165] Here Wakefield was the recipient
of a message from Te Rauparaha, demanding to know whether he was for
peace or for war, and preferring a request that "Tiraweke" would come
to Otaki to _korero_ with him. In the meantime he had sent his
canoes to Manawatu, and was preparing for his retreat into the
interior should he be attacked. Wakefield left Petre, and at the end
of the first day he was met at Rangitikei by the old Ngati-Raukawa
chief Te Ahu karamu,[166] who had gone thither with an armed party to
conduct his friend safely through the disturbed district. On reaching
Otaki, Wakefield went to Rangi-ura _pa_, the principal settlement,
where the Maoris placed only one interpretation upon his
coming--vengeance upon Te Rauparaha for the death of his uncle.
For two days Wakefield rested at Otaki, but saw nothing of the chiefs.
Rangihaeata was reported to be some distance in the interior, building
a strong _pa_, where it was understood that the chiefs had
determined to make a stand should the authorities seek to pursue them.
Te Rauparaha was at the Pakakutu _pa_ at the mouth of the river,
endeavouring to break down the influence of Mr. Hadfield and Wiremu
Kingi. His efforts to consolidate his forces were various, as suited
the circumstances. He sought to ingratiate himself into the good
opinion of the missionary natives by appearing to become zealous in
religious observances; on the feeling of others he played by a recital
of his wrongs; and towards the European residents of Otaki he assumed
an attitude of unconcealed hostility, and ordered their removal from
the district. This step he deemed to be necessary, in order that he
might be free to act unhampered by spies in the supposed impending
campaign against the Queen's troops, and it was this mandate which
brought the chief and Wakefield face to face.
As a result of Rauparaha's prohibition, a _pakeha_ settler named
White, who had been living under the patronage of Te Ahu karamu, found
himself suddenly stopped at the Otaki River while in the act of
driving some thirty head of cattle on to the land upon which his
patron chief had invited him to settle. This high-handed action
naturally aroused the anger of the Ngati-Raukawa chiefs, who had
hitherto assumed that they were masters of the territory which they
had chosen to "sit upon" when the division of the conquered lands was
made. Te Ahu was especially angered at what he regarded as an
uncalled-for encroachment upon his prerogative as a chief. He
therefore announced his determination to proceed to the Pakakutu
_pa_ and demand from Te Rauparaha a complete renunciation of his
views. Wakefield was invited to be present, and to his facile pen we
are indebted for a graphic account of what followed. The _korero_ did
not commence immediately upon the arrival of Te Ahu's party at the
_pa_, and Wakefield employed the interval in the kindly office of
helping to dress the wounded leg of a Maori, whom he has described as
one "particularly gentle and dignified in his manners." While thus
engaged, Te Rauparaha approached him, and, with evident signs of
apprehension as to the propriety of his doing so, offered a friendly
salutation. Wakefield coldly declined to grasp the hand which he
naturally believed was imbrued in his uncle's blood; and Rauparaha,
immediately acknowledging the delicacy of his position, muttered "It
is good," and returned to his seat. The speech-making commenced by his
entering upon a lengthy narrative of himself and his conquests, for
the evident purpose of riveting in the minds of his hearers the fact
that he was the brain and the heart of the tribe. His story was
eloquently told, for not the least of his great natural endowments was
the precious gift of the silver tongue. The tale of conquest ended, he
was proceeding to refer to the incidents of the Wairau, when Wakefield
rose and checked him. Naturally the latter was sensitive upon the
point of prejudging so dreadful a tragedy, by listening to an
_ex-parte_ statement of its facts, when he was fully persuaded that at
no distant date he would hear the truth disclosed before an impartial
tribunal. He therefore told Te Rauparaha that he would not remain if
he proposed to discuss the affair of the Wairau, but begged him to
confine his speech to a justification of his extreme and arbitrary
desire to drive the Europeans away from Otaki.
Te Rauparaha acknowledged the reasonableness of this request, but so
anxious was he to excuse himself in the eyes of Wakefield, that his
oration had not proceeded far before he reverted to the subject of the
massacre. Thereupon Wakefield rose, and, walking to the stile at the
outer fence, was in the act of stepping over it to proceed home, when
a chorus of shouts called him back, and a promise was given that there
would be no further reference to the Wairau. Te Rauparaha then
earnestly addressed himself to the status of the _pakehas_ at Otaki,
claiming the land as his alone. He admitted the validity of the sales
of the Manawatu, Whanganui, and Taranaki, but not those of Otaki or
Ohau, and insisted that the white people, whalers included,[167] must
remove to those districts which the Company had fairly bought. He
upbraided the Queen for sending her constables to tie his hands. "Who
is she," he asked, "that she should send her books and her constables
after me? What have I to do with her? She may be Queen over the white
people; I am the King of the Maori! If she chooses to have war, let
her send me word, and I will stand up against her soldiers. But I must
have room; I must have no white people so near."[168]
Challenged as to the inconsistency of these views with his action in
signing the Treaty of Waitangi, he wheeled sharply round and
exclaimed, "Yes; what of that? They gave me a blanket for it. I am
still a chief, just the same. I am Rauparaha. Give me another blanket
tomorrow and I will sign it again. What is there in writing?" The
attitude of absolute authority assumed by the chief distinctly alarmed
Wakefield, who saw in it the elements of unlimited trouble for the New
Zealand Company. For if Te Rauparaha's claim to exclusive jurisdiction
over the land was well founded, then verily many of their purchases
had been brought to the brink of repudiation. Turning hastily to Te
Ahu and several of the chiefs around him, he sought enlightenment on
the point, reminding them that they had frequently laid claim to
large possessions in the neighbourhood, but had never acknowledged Te
Rauparaha as having the least right or interest in them. Then Te Ahu
proceeded in a tone of apology and regret to elucidate one of the many
intricate phases of Maori land tenure which were now beginning to
prove so embarrassing to the Company. He explained that when the tribe
burned their houses at Maungatautari and came down to assist Te
Rauparaha in his conquest, they had selected Otaki out of the
conquered lands to be their future home. In times of peace Rauparaha
would have made no claim to the land, nor would his claim have been
acknowledged if he had. In proof of this, he quoted the scorn with
which Rangihaeata's assumptions over the Manawatu had been rejected by
Ngati-Raukawa; but now that the war clouds were in the air, the
_riri_, or anger, had completely altered the whole aspect of affairs;
the land had reverted to him who had conquered it, and Ngati-Raukawa
had no land which they could call their own. "And then he rose," says
Wakefield, "and endeavoured to persuade Rauparaha to change his
determination. He reminded him of the 'war parties which he had
brought to him on his back to assist him against his enemies, through
dangers and troubles more than he could count.' He related how 'he had
burned the villages of the tribe at Taupo to make them come with him
to be by the side of Rauparaha on the sea-coast.' He counted how many
times he had adhered to him 'in his feuds with Ngati-Awa,' and
described 'how much of the blood of Ngati-Raukawa had been spilt for
his name.' Te Ahu had now warmed with his subject, and was running up
and down, bounding and yelling at each turn, and beginning to foam at
the mouth, as the natives do when they seek to speak impressively.
'Let the cows go!' he cried. 'Let them go to my place!'
"Rauparaha seemed to consider that Te Ahu's eloquence was becoming too
powerful, and he jumped up too. They both continued to run up and down
in short parallel lines, yelling at each other, with staring eyes and
excited features, grimacing and foaming, shaking their hands and
smacking their thighs. As they both spoke together, it became
difficult to hear what they said, but I caught a sentence here and
there, which gave me the sense of the argument. 'No!' cried Rauparaha;
'no cows; I will not have them.' 'Let them go!' yelled Te Ahu. 'Yield
me my cows and my white man--the cows will not kill you.' 'No cows, no
white men! I am King! Never mind your war parties! No cows!' answered
Te Rauparaha. 'The cows cannot take you,' persisted Te Ahu; 'when the
soldiers come we will fight for you, but let my cows go.' 'No, no, no,
indeed,' firmly replied the chief, and sat down.
"Te Ahu remained standing. He took breath for a minute, then drew
himself up to his full height, and addressed his own people in a
solemn kind of recitative. 'Ngati-Raukawa,' he sang, 'arise! Arise, my
sons and daughters, my elder brothers and my younger brothers, my
sisters, my grand-children, arise! Stand up, the families of
Ngati-Raukawa! To Taupo! to Taupo! to Maungatautari! To our old homes
which we burned and deserted; arise and let us go! Carry the little
children on your backs, as I carried you when I came to fight for this
old man who has called us to fight for him and given us land to sit
upon, but grudges us white people to be our friends and to give us
trade. We have no white men or ships at Maungatautari, but the land is
our own there. We need not beg to have a white man or cows yielded to
us there if they should want to come. To Maungatautari. Arise, my
sons, make up your packs, take your guns and your blankets, and let us
go! It is enough, I have spoken.' As he sat down, a mournful silence
prevailed. An important migration had been proposed by the chief,
which no doubt would be agreed to by the greater part of the Otaki,
Ohau, and Manawatu natives, on whom was Rauparaha's chief dependence
for his defence.
"I noticed that he winced when he first heard the purport of Te Ahu's
song; but, while Te Ahu continued, his countenance gradually resumed
its confidence. Much as I abhorred his character, I could not but
yield my unbounded admiration to the imperious manner in which he
overthrew the whole effect of Te Ahu's beautiful summons to his tribe.
Instead of his usual doubting and suspicious manner, his every gesture
became that of a noble chief. He rose with all the majesty of a
monarch, and he spoke in the clearest and firmest tones, so that the
change from his customary shuffling, cautious and snarling diction was
of itself sufficient to command the earnest attention of his audience.
'Go,' said he, 'go, all of you!--go, Ngati-Raukawa, to Maungatautari!
Take your children on your backs and go, and leave my land without
men. When you are gone, I will stay and fight the soldiers with my own
hands. I do not beg you to stop. Rauparaha is not afraid! I began to
fight when I was as high as my hip. All my days have been spent in
fighting, and by fighting I have got my name. Since I seized by war
all this land, from Taranaki to Port Nicholson, and from Blind Bay to
Cloudy Bay beyond the water, I have been spoken of as a King. I am the
King of all this land. I have lived a King, and I will die a King,
with my _mere_ in my hand. Go; I am no beggar; Rauparaha will fight
the soldiers of the Queen when they come, with his own hands and his
own name. Go to Maungatautari.' Then, suddenly changing his strain, he
looked on the assemblage of chiefs, bending down towards them with a
paternal smile, and softening his voice to kindness and emotion. 'But
what do I say?' said he; 'what is my talk about? You are children! It
is not for you to talk. You talk of going here and doing that. Can one
of you talk when I am here? No! I shall rise and speak for you all,
and you shall sit dumb, for you are all my children, and Rauparaha is
your head chief and patriarch.'"
This fearless rejection of Ngati-Raukawa assistance, culminating in an
arrogant assumption of absolute authority over their movements,
completely won him his point, and one of the highest chiefs said to
Wakefield, "It is true, Tiraweke! He is our father and our
_Ariki_. Rauparaha is the King of the Maori, like your Queen over the
white people." The others, full of conscious dignity in being
followers of such a leader, acknowledged his authority by bowing a
silent assent. Rauparaha remained inflexible in refusing to permit the
cattle to enter the district, but, in deference to the urgent
persuasions of the chiefs, he subsequently relaxed his prohibition
against the white men already settled in the district, but stoutly
refused to sanction the coming of any more.
But this effort of Te Rauparaha to consolidate his forces was in no
sense the full range of his preparations. To augment his fighting
strength was as much his policy as to unite those who already
acknowledged allegiance to him. And this he sought to do in a quarter
which, in view of past events, he would have been least expected to
approach, and where his advances, once made, would have been least
likely to touch a responsive chord. His scheme involved no less a
delicate task than salving the wounds of the Ngai-Tahu tribe, and
negotiating a friendly alliance with the men whose _mana_ he had
so rudely trampled in the dust at Kaikoura and Kaiapoi. To this end he
collected a number of the most influential prisoners whom he had taken
at the latter place, and, bidding them go back to their tribe, charged
them to use their utmost endeavour to promote a good feeling towards
him amongst their people. This unexpected act of clemency--or apparent
clemency--which restored to them their much esteemed chief Momo, their
great warrior Iwikau, and others equally noted in their history, went
far to soothe the injured pride of Ngai-Tahu, who, after much serious
debate, decided to forget the past, make peace, and accede to the new
proposals. As an earnest of their acceptance of Rauparaha's terms,
Taiaroa at once paid a visit to Kapiti, and, as he professed to be
aggrieved at the manner in which some land transactions had been
conducted in the south, there is little doubt that, had an attack upon
Wellington been contemplated, he and his people would have combined
with their former enemies to effect the annihilation of the
colonists.[169]
A fearful uncertainty thus continued to agitate the breasts of the
settlers; and when H.M. ship of war, _North Star_ arrived in
Wellington on 31st August, as the result of a memorial sent by the
settlers to Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, she was
received with a salute of guns and a display of bunting, which
indicated a belief that the day of retribution was at hand. It was
not, however, for four days that her commander, Sir Everard Home, was
able to enter into communication with Major Richmond, the principal
officer of the Government in Cook Strait. By him he was assured that
"he had received various reports of meditated attacks upon Wellington
by the natives under Te Rauparaha; that the chief was at a _pa_
not more than fourteen miles away, with between five hundred and a
thousand of his fighting men; that Taiaroa, the chief from the Middle
Island, had joined Te Rauparaha, and, having been an ancient enemy to
him, had made peace; that the _pa_ at Porirua was fortified, and
every preparation made for an attack on the town of Wellington." To
this Sir Everard, having regard to his explicit instructions not to
intervene unless the natives and the whites were at actual war,
replied that, in his judgment, the circumstances did not warrant his
interference, but that he would keep his ship in the harbour as a
salutary check upon Maori aggression. In the meantime he penned the
following letter to Te Rauparaha:--
"FRIEND RAUPARAHA,--It has come to my knowledge that you are
collecting the tribes round you, because you expect that I am going
to attack you. Those who told you so said that which is not true.
It was to keep the peace and not to make war that I came here.
You know that where many men are met together, and continue without
employment, they will find something evil to do. They had best go
home."
Sir Everard Home, having satisfied himself that no immediate crisis
was likely to arise at Wellington, unless it was precipitated by the
settlers themselves, was constrained by reports of seething discontent
at Nelson to visit the settlements in Blind Bay. But, before
proceeding thither, he decided to call in at the island of Mana, and
there personally discuss the situation with Te Rauparaha himself.
Accompanied by Major Richmond and Captain Best, he left Wellington
Harbour on the morning of October 5th, and anchored the _North
Star_ under the lee of Mana that afternoon.
"As soon as the ship anchored," says Sir Everard in his official
report, "I landed, attended by Major Richmond and Captain Best,
who commanded the detachment on board the _North Star_. We
first went to the whaling station, or great _pa_, where we found Mr.
Chetham (clerk of the Court), who had been sent to join us. We
also soon after met Mr. Clarke. He informed us that Te Rauparaha
had left that morning at daylight for Waikanae, which must have
been a voluntary movement, as no person knew our intention till
the Strait was entered. We immediately went round to the _pa_
where the tribe was established. Here we found no one on the
beach to receive us, and, having landed, walked to the huts, where
we found a few persons sitting together. Rangihaeata, they said,
had fled to the bush, Te Rauparaha was at Waikanae, and, finding
that nothing could be done, we returned on board."
During this visit to Porirua, the attention of the official party had
been directed to the presence of the New Zealand Company's boat, which
had been brought by the natives from the Wairau, after the massacre,
and hauled up on the shore of Taupo Bay amongst some twelve or fifteen
canoes; and this fact was made a subject of discussion next day when
the frigate reached Kapiti.
Landing at Waikanae, where the interview was to take place, Sir
Everard Home says:--
"We were received by the Rev. Mr. Hadfield, a missionary, a
gentleman of high character and great intelligence, who, living in
the _pa_ amongst the natives, knows every movement, for none could
take place without his knowledge. He at once declared all the reports
(of an intended attack upon Wellington) to be without foundation.
Having walked to his house, which is within the _pa_, we
proceeded to his school-yard, and the chiefs, Te Rauparaha, and Rere,
chief of the tribe inhabiting the _pa_ of Waikanae, came,
accompanied by about fifty men. I then stated to the chief all that
was reported of him, and asked him what he had to say to contradict
it. He replied that, far from wishing to continue the quarrel with
the Europeans, which had been commenced by them, and not by him, his
whole time was occupied in travelling up and down the coast,
endeavouring to allay the irritation of the natives and to prevent
any ill consequences arising from the provoking language and threats
with which they were continually annoyed by the Europeans travelling
backwards and forwards. That, for himself, he believed them to be
lies invented by the white men, having been assured by the Police
Magistrate that no steps would be taken until the arrival of the new
Governor, or the pleasure of the Queen was known. He also declared
that they all stood in fear of the white men, and asked why I had
come if it was not to fight with and destroy them, for they had been
told that was my intention.
"I told them that the Queen's ships went to all parts of the world,
and that my object was to preserve peace rather than to make war, and
he was advised to believe no reports which he might hear, but to
inquire into the truth of them of Major Richmond, through Mr. Clarke
or Mr. Hadfield."
The conference then dispersed, but at a later hour Te Rauparaha was
sent for to Mr. Hadfield's house, and asked if he would send a letter
to the principal chief at Porirua, requesting him to deliver up the
Company's boat to Sir Everard Home. His reply was that he had but
little influence amongst the Porirua people, but that, as he had
always been against the retention of the boat, he would assert what
authority he had to secure its return. He then became curious to know
if the surrender of the boat would end the quarrel; but Major Richmond
discreetly declined to commit himself on the point, and appealed to Te
Rauparaha's position as a chief to see that justice was done. Te
Rauparaha then penned the following letter, which he addressed to the
Porirua chiefs:--
"Go thou, my book, to Puaha, Hohepa, and Watarauehe. Give that boat
to the chief of the ship; give it to the chief for nothing. These are
the words of Te Rauparaha. Your avarice in keeping back the boat from
us, from me, Mr. Hadfield, and Mr. Ironside, was great. This is not
an angry visit, it is to ask peaceably for the boat. There are only
Mr. Clarke, Mr. Richmond, and the chief of the ship: they three who
are going peaceably back to you that you may give up the boat.
"This is my book,
"TE RAUPARAHA."
Armed with this authority Sir Everard Home returned to Porirua, where,
after lying at anchor all day on Sunday, he landed on the following
day, and made a formal demand for the return of the boat. At first, Te
Rangihaeata was inclined to resist the request, but, on receipt of a
private message from Te Rauparaha that a refusal might mean trouble,
he yielded the point, and the boat was ultimately handed over with
"the greatest good-humour."
During the interview at Waikanae, Te Rauparaha had given the most
profuse assurances that he, relying upon the promise that there would
be no reprisals until the facts surrounding the massacre had been
investigated, was employing his best endeavours to pacify his people.
But his efforts, he said, were often nullified by the disturbing
rumours which reached them of armings and drillings[170] by the
settlers at Wellington, which seemed to portend war rather than peace.
But the seeds of irritation and mistrust had already been sown much
further afield than Waikanae and Otaki; for the natives, on leaving
the Wairau, had taken with them, as well as the boat, the handcuffs
and leg-irons which had been foolishly brought down by Mr. Maling to
ensure Rauparaha's capture. These were sent from one _pa_ to
another, and wherever they were exhibited, the enemies of the
_pakeha_ were not slow to insinuate that, when the English became
numerous in the land, they would provide leg-irons for the whole of
the natives. The sight of these manacles, and the dark hints with
which they were everywhere accompanied, created bitterness and
resentment against settlers, with whom the Maoris had always lived in
perfect harmony; so that before many weeks had passed away it only
required a single spark of indiscretion to set the whole colony in a
blaze of war. At no period of her history has New Zealand stood so
much in need of firm, discreet and conciliatory guidance as in this
critical juncture;[171] and fortunately the hand of authority was
strong enough to prevent the spark being kindled. Acting-Governor
Shortland, taking a bold but unpopular initiative, on July 12, 1843,
issued the following proclamation:--
"Whereas it is essential to the well-being of this Colony that
confidence and good feeling should continue to exist between the two
races of its inhabitants, and that the native owners of the soil
should have no reason to doubt the good faith of Her Majesty's solemn
assurance that their territorial rights should be recognised and
respected. Now, therefore, I, the officer administering the
Government, do hereby publicly warn all persons claiming land in this
Colony, in all cases where the claim is denied or disputed by the
original native owners, from exercising rights of ownership thereon,
or otherwise prejudicing the question of title to the same, until the
question of ownership shall have been heard and determined by one of
Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to investigate claims to land
in New Zealand."
The wisdom of thus holding the hands of the settlers until the title
to their lands had been settled by a constitutional course was not at
first apparent to the pioneers, who treated the proclamation with
scant respect, and roundly abused it and its author in the public
press.
"If," said one writer, "it had been the desire of its framer to hound
a troop of excited savages upon a peaceable and scattered population,
to destroy the remains of friendly feeling existing between the two
races, to imbrue in blood the hands of both, and lead to the
extermination of one or the other, such a proclamation might have
served its purpose."
This style of exaggerated invective will serve to show the unreasoning
pitch to which even the better class of colonists had allowed
themselves to be worked by the news of the catastrophe. Nor were they
content with merely upbraiding the authorities in the press and at
public meetings; deputations waited upon the Acting-Governor at
Auckland, urging him to take immediate steps to avenge the death of
Captain Wakefield. The Nelson deputation consisted of Dr. Monro and
Mr. A. Domett, and the essence of their petition was contained in the
following paragraph:--
"We have no hesitation in stating that it is the general opinion of
the settlers at Nelson that our countrymen who were killed at Wairau
Plain lost their lives in endeavouring to discharge their duties as
magistrates and British subjects, obedient to British law, and that
the persons by whom they were killed are murderers in the eyes of
common sense and justice."
They therefore hoped that impartial justice would be done, and that
the penalties of the law would certainly overtake those whom its
verdicts pronounced to be guilty. But to this and all other petitions
of a similar tone Mr. Shortland staunchly refused to accede. In his
reply to Dr. Monro and Mr. Domett he clearly set forth the error under
which the settlers were labouring, when they ascribed the disaster to
the performance of duty on the part of the magistrates, and pointed
out that it might be more fairly attributed to an excess of duty on
the part of those officials, in attempting to annex land which had
never been legally purchased. After dwelling upon the criminality of
those who were responsible for the final conflict, he proceeded:--
"But whatever may be the crime, and whoever may be the criminals, it
is but too clear that the event we must all deplore has arisen from
several parties of surveyors, without the concurrence of the local
Government, proceeding to take possession of and to survey a tract of
land in opposition to the original native owners, who had uniformly
denied its sale. His Excellency therefore deems it proper to inform
you that the New Zealand Company has not selected any block of land
in the valley of the Wairau, nor has the local Government yet
received any intimation that it is the intention of the Company to
select a block in that district."
To say that the Englishmen were trespassers is the mildest way in
which the case against them can be stated, especially in view of the
forceful opinion expressed by Mr. Swainson, the Attorney-General, who
described their conduct as "illegal in its inception and in every step
of its execution, unjustifiable in the magistrate and four constables,
and criminal in the last degree on the part of the attacking party."
Writing from Port Nicholson ten days after the massacre, Mr. Spain
confirmed Mr. Swainson's condemnation of their conduct, which he
declared to be "an attempt to set British law at defiance and to
obtain, by force, possession of a tract of land, the title of which
was disputed, and then under the consideration of a commissioner
specially appointed to investigate and report upon it." From the
information he had been able to collect, Mr. Spain arrived at the
conclusion that at the commencement of the affair the natives
exhibited the greatest forbearance, and the utmost repugnance to fight
with the Europeans. His views were cordially endorsed by Mr. Clarke,
the Protector of the aborigines, who reported to the Acting-Governor
that he was "satisfied that such an unhappy affair as that of the
Wairau could never have occurred had not the natives been urged to it
by extreme provocation." These emphatic opinions from men who were not
only capable of arriving at a judicial conclusion, but were impartial
in the sense that they were not concerned in the catastrophe, together
with the decision of the Attorney-General that no act of felony had
been committed by the natives in burning the huts, fortified His
Excellency in ignoring the violent clamour of the settlers for
revenge. They induced him even to go further, and prohibit the
military displays which they were beginning to organise amongst
themselves under the plea that they were in imminent danger of being
attacked by the natives. This prohibition was to their excited minds
the crowning injustice of all; and in October, when H.M.S. _North
Star_ arrived at Port Nicholson, the Wellington and Nelson settlements
were practically in a state of open rebellion. When Sir Everard Home
was applied to by the colonists to execute a warrant against Rauparaha
and Rangihaeata for murder, he was compelled to "decline the honour,"
and admit candidly that he did not consider a force so necessary to
put a check upon the natives as to keep in subjection the irate
settlers themselves. The settlers further memorialised Sir Eardley
Wilmot, Governor of Tasmania, for assistance, and he immediately sent
a battleship to their aid. But he took the precaution to warn Captain
Nicholson not to land his troops unless the natives and Europeans were
in actual conflict; and this not being the case when the ship arrived,
she soon after took her departure. In their extremity the settlers
then turned to a French frigate which was lying in New Zealand waters;
but Major Richmond, on hearing of the proposal to call upon her
captain for aid, indignantly vetoed it as being "a stain upon British
arms."
The social and political atmosphere was still in this condition of
ferment when, towards the close of the year, Captain Fitzroy, the
newly appointed Governor, arrived. It was not, however, until February
that he was able to give his undivided attention to the adjudication
of matters connected with the massacre; but he then spared no pains to
make himself master of all the facts upon which a decision was to be
based. He first studied the merits of the European case, and then
journeyed to Waikanae, where he landed on February 12, 1844, with his
suite, consisting of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Spain, the officers of the
_North Star_, Major Richmond and Mr. Symonds, the Wellington
magistrates, and Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of the
aborigines. There he met Rauparaha and Rangihaeata with upwards of
four hundred of their tribe, congregated for the _korero_ in an
enclosure in the centre of the _pa_, the Governor being provided
with a chair, Rauparaha sitting by his side. His Excellency,
addressing the assembled natives through Mr. Clarke, said:--
"I have heard from the English all that happened at the Wairau, and
it has grieved my heart exceedingly. I now ask you to tell me your
story so that I may compare the two and judge fairly. When I have
heard your account of that dark day, I will reflect and then tell you
what I shall do. The bad news I have just heard about killing the
English after they had ceased fighting, and had trusted to your
honour, has made my heart very dark, has filled my mind with gloom.
Tell me your story that I may compare it with the English, and know
the whole truth. When I first heard of the death of my friends at the
Wairau, I was very angry and thought of hastening here with many
ships of war, with many soldiers, and several fire-moved ships
(steamers). Had I done so your warriors would have been killed, your
canoes would have been all taken and burnt, your houses and your
_pas_ would have all been destroyed, for I would have brought
with me from Sydney an irresistible force. But these were hasty,
unchristian thoughts: they soon passed away. I considered the whole
case. I considered the English were very much to blame even by their
own account, and I saw how much you had been provoked. Then I
determined to put away my anger and come to you peaceably. Let me
hear your story."
Rauparaha then arose, and after being exhorted by several of his tribe
to speak out that all might hear, he began in slow and measured tones
to narrate their land troubles with the Company in the Wellington
settlement, and then he passed on to the Wairau. This land, he
declared, was taken away by Thompson and Captain Wakefield, and he
described the visit of Rangihaeata and himself to Nelson to protest
against its occupancy; nor did he omit to mention the threats then
used towards them by Captain Wakefield. Then he told how they had gone
over and stopped the survey, and brought Messrs. Cotterell and
Barnicoat down to the bar, and how they had afterwards met Mr.
Tuckett, and likewise refused him permission to remain.
[Illustration: TAUPO PA, PORIRUA.
Where Te Rauparaha was captured.]
"After Mr. Tuckett had gone to Nelson," said Rauparaha, "we continued
our planting, till one morning we saw the _Victoria_ (the
Government brig). Then were our hearts relieved, for we thought Mr.
Spain and Mr. Clarke had come to settle the question of our lands.
Being scattered about on the different places on the river, we took
no further notice, expecting a messenger to arrive from Mr. Spain;
but a messenger came up to say that it was an army of English, and
that they were busily engaged in cleaning their arms and fixing the
flints of their guns. They met Puaha, and detained him prisoner. They
said, 'Where are Rauparaha and Rangihaeata?' Puaha said, 'Up the
river.' After Puaha and Rangihaeata arrived, we consulted as to what
we should do. I proposed going into the bush, but they said 'No, let
us remain where we are: what have we done that we should be thus
beset?' The Europeans slept some distance from us, and, after they
had breakfasted, came on towards us in two boats. We remained on the
same spot without food. We were much alarmed. Early in the morning we
were on the look-out, and one of the scouts, who caught sight of them
coming round a point, called out, 'Here they come! here they come!'
Our women had kindled a fire and cooked a few potatoes that we had
remaining, and we were hastily eating them when they came in sight.
Cotterell called out, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha answered, 'Here I am,
come here to me.' They said again, 'Where is Puaha?' Puaha again
saluted them. Cotterell then said, 'Where is a canoe for us to
cross?' Thompson, Wakefield, and some other gentlemen crossed over
with a constable to take me, but the greater number stopped on the
other side of the creek. Thompson said, 'Where is Rauparaha?' I
answered, 'Here.' He said, 'Come, you must come with me.' I replied,
'What for?' He answered, 'To talk about the houses you have burnt
down.' I said, 'What house have I burned down? Was it a tent
belonging to you that you make so much ado about? You know it was
not; it was nothing but a hut of rushes. The materials were cut from
my own ground; therefore I will not go on board, neither will I be
bound. If you are angry about the land, let us talk it quietly over.
I care not if we talk till night and all day to-morrow; and when we
have finished, I will settle the question about the land!' Mr.
Thompson said, 'Will you not go?' I said 'No,' and Rangihaeata, who
had been called for, and who had been speaking, said so too. Mr.
Thompson then called for the handcuffs and held up the warrant,
saying, 'See, this is the Queen's book, this is the Queen to make a
tie, Rauparaha.' I said, 'I will not listen either to you or your
book.' He was in a great passion; his eyes rolled about and he
stamped his feet. I said I would rather be killed than submit to be
bound. He then called for the constable, who began opening the
handcuffs and advancing towards me. Mr. Thompson laid hold of my
hand. I pushed him away, saying, 'What are you doing that for?' Mr.
Thompson then called out 'Fire!' The Europeans began to cross over
the creek, and as they were crossing they fired one gun. The women
and children were sitting round the fire. We called out, 'We shall be
shot,' After this one gun, they fired a volley, and one of us was
killed, then another, and three were wounded. We were then closing
fast; the _pakehas_' guns were levelled at us. I and Puaha cried out,
'Friends, stand up and shoot some of them in payment.' We were
frightened because some of them were very close to us. We then fired;
three of the Europeans fell. They fired again and killed Rongo, the
wife of Rangihaeata. We then bent all our energy to the fight, and
the Europeans began to fly. They all ran away, firing as they
retreated; the gentlemen ran too. We pursued them and killed them as
we overtook them. Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson were brought to
me by the slaves, who caught them. Rangihaeata came running to me,
crying out, 'What are you doing, I say?' Upon which some heathen
slaves killed them at the instigation of Rangihaeata; neither Puaha
nor the Christian natives being then present. There was no time
elapsed between the fight and the slaughter of the prisoners. When
the prisoners were killed, the rest of the people were still engaged
in the pursuit, and before they returned they were all dead. I forgot
to say that during the pursuit, when we arrived at the top of the
hill, Mr. Cotterell held up a flag and said, 'That is enough, stop
fighting!' Mr. Thompson said to me, 'Rauparaha, spare my life.' I
answered, 'A little while ago, I wished to talk to you in a friendly
manner, and you would not; now you say, 'Save me,' I will not save
you. It is not our custom to save the chiefs of our enemies. We do
not consider our victory complete unless we kill the chiefs of our
opponents. Our passions were much roused, and we could not help
killing the chiefs."
At the conclusion of Rauparaha's address, Captain Fitzroy desired time
to reflect upon what he had just heard, and, at the expiration of
half-an-hour, he announced his decision as follows:--
"Now I have heard both sides, I have reflected on both accounts, and
I am prepared to give my judgment. In the first place, the English
were wrong; they had no right to build houses upon lands to which
they had not established their claim--upon land the sale of which you
disputed; on which Mr. Spain had not decided. They were wrong in
trying to apprehend you, who had committed no crime. They were wrong
in marking and measuring your land in opposition to your repeated
refusal to allow them to do so until the Commissioner had decided on
their claim. Had you been Englishmen, you would have known that it
was wrong to resist a magistrate under any circumstances, but not
understanding English law, the case is different. Had this been all,
had a struggle caused loss of life in the fight--wrong and bad as it
would have been to fight in the sight of God--I could not have blamed
you so much as the English. The very bad part of the Wairau
affair--that part where you were very wrong--was the killing of the
men who had surrendered, who trusted to your honour as chiefs.
Englishmen never kill prisoners; Englishmen never kill men who have
surrendered. It is the shocking death of these unfortunate men that
has filled my mind with gloom, that has made my heart so dark, that
has filled me with sorrow; but I know how difficult it is to restrain
angry men when their passions are aroused. I know you repent of your
conduct, and are now sorry that those men were killed. As the English
were very greatly to blame, as they brought on and began the fight,
and as you were hurried into crime by their misconduct, I will not
avenge their death."[172]
In arriving at this determination, Captain Fitzroy may have been
actuated to some extent by considerations of expediency; for, had he
decided in any other way, the reprisals of the English would
undoubtedly have created a war with the natives, which the Government
was not in a position at that juncture to carry to a successful issue.
Therefore, to have provoked hostilities with Rauparaha would have
meant the obliteration of all the settlements before the necessary
reinforcements could have arrived. At the same time, there was a large
measure of justice in the course he chose to adopt, which, in the
calmer judgment of to-day, must receive the endorsement of all
impartial men, as it did that of Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, immediately the Governor's decision was known to the
Home authorities. In his despatches on the subject, Lord Stanley made
it clear that, in his opinion, Mr. Thompson and Captain Wakefield had
needlessly violated the rules of English law, the maxims of prudence,
and the principles of justice; and having thus provoked an indefensible
quarrel with a barbarous tribe, they could not reasonably complain at
the barbarities practised in the subsequent conflict. He was therefore
satisfied that, in declining to make the Wairau massacre a subject for
criminal proceedings, the Governor had taken a wise, though
undoubtedly bold, decision. As might have been expected, the action of
Captain Fitzroy in refusing to arrest the two chiefs created a tempest
of ill-will against him amongst the settlers, but, on the other hand,
the Maoris were overjoyed at the prospect of once more possessing the
friendship of the _pakeha_, and instantly resumed a sociable
demeanour towards the colonists. This feeling, upon the advent of
Captain Grey as Governor, was gradually reciprocated by the Europeans,
who in time came to recognise the folly of their fears, and the
absurdity of their hostile attitude. In this way, the startling nature
of the catastrophe, which had paralysed the efforts of the New Zealand
Company and thrown a pall over the settlement of the whole Colony,
began to lose its deadly effect, and the splendid scheme of setting a
new gem in the British Crown was rescued from the disaster which
threatened it.
[154] On the 13th June, Captain Wakefield wrote to his brother from
Nelson: "The magistrates have granted a warrant, and Thompson,
accompanied by myself, England, and a lot of the constables, are off
immediately in the Government brig to execute it. We shall muster
about sixty, so I think we will overcome these travelling bullies."
[155] As told to the author by the late Mr. Barnicoat.
[156] Saturday, June 17, 1843.
[157] John Brooks had been engaged as a sawyer at Cloudy Bay. He was
thoroughly acquainted with the native language and habits, having been
eight years resident amongst the Waikato tribes.
[158] Rawiri Kingi Puaha was born at Kawhia, and belonged to one of
the best of the Ngati-Toa families. He migrated southward with Te
Rauparaha, and was married to one of Te Pehi's daughters. He died at
his own village, Takapuahia, Porirua Harbour, on September 6, 1858. He
was a man widely respected by the colonists, and to the day of his
death he "maintained a high character as a consistent and
conscientious Christian."
[159] "The conduct of Mr. Thompson has been unquestionably the means
of bringing about the fatal conflict in which he himself lost his
life. There is only one way of accounting for the part he has acted in
that affair; as far as he is concerned, no more blame can be attached
to him than to any other lunatic, for such he was to all intents and
purposes, and such he was well known to be, even to Mr. Shortland"
(_Martin's Letters_).
[160] Te Rongo was not the _daughter_ of Te Rauparaha, as that
word is generally understood by Europeans, but a much more distant
relative. She was the widow of Te Whaiti, a nephew of Rauparaha and a
first cousin of Rangihaeata, who married her because she was the widow
of his near relative. The story that she was shot while standing in
front of Rangihaeata to protect him is pure romance. She was killed by
a stray bullet while hiding in the swamp at the rear of the Maori
camp.
[161] "Yesterday we passed (near Maraekowhai) the grave of Te Oru, the
chief who killed Captain Wakefield at the Wairau" (_Crawford's
"Travels in New Zealand"_).
[162] This referred to an incident which occurred in 1839. A
degenerate whaler named Dick Cook had cruelly murdered a native woman,
Rangiawha Kuika, who was the wife of an Englishman named Wynen. The
natives wished to deal with him in their own summary way, but the Rev.
Mr. Ironside persuaded them to send him to Wellington to be tried
according to the British forms of justice. He was charged with the
crime at the Supreme Court, but was acquitted, the evidence being
mainly circumstantial, his own wife (also a native woman), who saw him
do the deed, not being allowed to give testimony against him. This was
a delicate point which the natives could not understand, and they ever
after retained the firm conviction that an injustice had been done in
not punishing him.
[163] Mr. Clarke, Sub-Protector of the aborigines, estimated that in
1843 there were 11,650 natives capable of bearing arms inhabiting the
shores of Cook Strait. In a petition to Parliament signed by seven
hundred residents of Wellington shortly after the massacre, it was
stated "that it is in the power of the aborigines at any time to
massacre the whole of the British population in Cook Strait, and
Rauparaha has been known to declare that he will do it."
[164] On the 29th June, the Wellington magistrates met at Mr.
McDonough's house, and on the motion of Dr. Evans, seconded by the
Hon. J. Petre, it was resolved: "That Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of
Lands, be requested to go in his capacity as one of the magistrates to
communicate to the native chiefs and tribes of Cook Strait their
determination, which is not to take or to sanction any attempt to take
vengeance for the death of the white men at Wairau, but to leave the
whole matter to the decision of the Queen's Government, who will
inquire into it and decide according to law."
[165] Now known as Whanganui.
[166] Te Ahu karamu's son was travelling with Wakefield on this
journey, and under the impression that Wakefield would kill him in
revenge for the massacre, Te Ahu "had furiously urged the Otaki
natives to join Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in an attack upon
Wellington."
[167] "Some of the whalers present laughed at this, having too many
friends and relatives by their wives to fear being turned out. Taylor,
among the number, laughed outright, for he had lived with the tribe
for many years and was a general favourite among them. Rauparaha
turned to him and said, 'You must go too, Sammy'" (_Wakefield_).
[168] Wakefield has said that Rauparaha not only rebuked the Queen,
but spoke offensively of her. But it must always be remembered that he
was naturally prejudiced against the chief, and that he was frequently
vindictive towards those from whom he differed.
[169] "Taiaroa talked to me for some time about land in a disgusting
jargon composed of whaling slang, broken French, and bad English, so
that I was obliged to beg him to speak in Maori, which I could better
understand. I then made out that he was angry with 'Wideawake'
(Colonel Wakefield) and other white people for taking so much land,
and he said he would turn the white people off to the southward if he
did not get plenty of _utu_" (_Wakefield_).
[170] These displays had a distinctly disturbing effect upon the
native mind, the Maoris regarding them as a sure and certain sign that
the settlers meditated an attack upon them.
[171] The entire military force in the Colony at the moment of the
massacre was one weak company of infantry stationed at Auckland, and
there was no vessel of war on the station (_Mundy_).
[172] This decision was written out in pencil and handed to Mr. Clarke
to read out to the assemblage. Because Governor Fitzroy did not claim
the Wairau district as having been paid for with blood--a course which
the chiefs fully expected would be taken, in accordance with their own
customs--British prestige and power are said to have suffered
considerably in their estimation, and Rangihaeata is reported to have
remarked, "_He paukena te pakeha_" (The Governor is soft, he is a
pumpkin). When the Middle Island was sold to the Government by Taiaroa
and the descendants of Tamaiharanui, Rangihaeata claimed part of the
payment as compensation for the death of Te Pehi and his friends
killed at Kaiapoi, and his claim was allowed by Governor Grey.