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THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE GREY,
K.C.B., GOVERNOR OF NEW ZEALAND.

SIR, The unhappy war which is now raging
in New Zealand, between the Maoris and
their English rulers, has excited the most
deep and painful interest in this country. It
was generally hoped that the contest which
recently took place in the Province of
Taranaki would have been the last of those
painful collisons, which have proved as
inimical to the best interests of the Colony,
as they have been disastrous to the Native
race. This hope was confirmed by the spirit
with which your Excellency entered upon the
duties of your high office, and especially by
the persevering efforts you made to establish
a system of self-government in the Native
Districts. We cannot express to you with
what profound regret we have witnessed the
failure of those wise and beneficent measures,
and how deeply we sympathize with you in
the peculiarly trying position in which you
are now placed.

The justice which has ever been the great
characteristic of your Excellency's adminis-
tration of Native affairs, is a pledge to the
world that the war, which is now being
waged, will be limited to the one object of
restoring British supremacy in the disturbed
districts, and of achieving an honourable and,
if possible, a lasting peace. Occupying, as
you do, a position at once so difficult and so
responsible, we would not venture to offer
any suggestions of our own, did we not feel
that Englishmen, even at so great a distance,
ought not to regard the momentous events
now transpiring in New Zealand with indif-
ference, or even with silence.

We would, therefore, express our earnest
hope that your Excellency will avail yourself
of the first favourable opportunity which may
present itself of endeavouring to terminate
the War by negotiation, and especially that
you will listen to any overtures of peace
which any of the Natives who have taken up
arms may make. This course will, we are
sure, so commend itself to your sense of
humanity and Christian feeling, that we
should scarcely presume to urge it upon
consideration did we not feel that your
hands might be strengthened by this expres-
sion of our opinion—an opinion which we
believe to be shared by the great body of the
British people.

We have, however, been alarmed by the
pertinacity with which, in some quarters, it
has been proposed to confiscate the Lands of
all contumacious and rebellious Natives. As
has been truly observed, such a policy as this
would shut the door to any possible settle-
ment of the difficulty except by the sword;
in other words, it would lead to the exter-
mination of a people who value their property
in the soil even more than their existence,
and who, despite their faults, are worthy of a
better fate. We can conceive of no surer
means of adding fuel to the flame of War;
of extending the area of disaffection; and of
making the Natives fight with the madness of
despair, than a policy of confiscation. It
could not fail to produce in New Zealand the
same bitter fruits of which it has yielded so
plentiful a harvest in other countries, where
the strife of races has been perpetuated
through successive generations; and that,
too, with a relentlessness and a cruelty which
have made mankind blush for their species.

We therefore pray that in the hour of
victory your Excellency will temper justice
with mercy, and give to the world another
bright example of forbearance and magnani-
mity. By such means, and such means only,
may we hope to see the Maori Race saved
from extinction, and the dominion of our
beloved Queen firmly established over every
portion of the Islands of New Zealand.

With great respect,
We have the honour to be, Sir,
Your Excellency's faithful Servants,

CHICHESTER,
EBURY,
P. C., Moor Park, Rickmansworth,
Walter C. Trevelyn, Bart.,
John Hesketh Lethbridge, Bart.,
Wilfrid Lawson, Bart.,
S. Gurney, M.P.,
W. E. Foster, M.P.,
Thomas Barnes, M.P.,
Henry Pease, M.P.,
Thomas Bazley, M.P.,
William Williams, M.P.,
P. A. Taylor, M.P.,
Edward Baines, M.P.,
E. A. Leatham, M.P.,
John Brady, M.P.,
Samuel Morley,
Thomas Fowell Buxton,
T. Perronet Thompson, Lieut.-General,
Edward Miall,
R N. Fowler, Treasurer of Aborigines
Protection Society,
Samuel Lucas,
Thomas Guthrie, D.D., Edinburgh,
Thomas Binney,
Charles J. Hadfield, Colonel,
William Howitt,
Henry Salwey, Colonel,
J. E. Cairnes, Professor of Jurispru-
dence, &c., Queen's University,
Ireland,
F. W. Newman, late Professor at
University College, London,
Newman Hall, L.L.D.,
J. Humffreys Parry, Sergeant-at-Law,
Samuel Stott, Mayor of Rochdale,
Leone Levi, Professor of Commerce
and Commercial Law, King's
College, London,
Charles Sturge,
Henry Christy,
Joseph Pease, Darlington,
George Thompson,
David Thomas, D.D.,
Henry Richard,
John Nichol, B.A., Oxon,
Duncan M'Laren, Newington House,
Edinburgh,
Edward Smith, Sheffield,