✨ Correspondence regarding peace terms
4
these terms I cannot overlook the outrages that you have committed. Whatever may have been the dispute in reference to the land at Waitara it was a matter with which you had no concern. Without even pretence of quarrel with the Queen\'s Government, or her European subjects, you have taken advantage of the disturbances caused by another tribe to set the authority of the Queen and the Law at defiance; to attack Her Majesty\'s troops; to burn, destroy, and steal property; and treacherously kill without provocation Her Majesty\'s subjects while engaged in their peaceful occupations. Moreover, you have driven off the settlers from land which, years ago, you had sold and been fully paid for, and have avowed your intention of repossessing yourselves of it and retaining it by force. However much I may condemn the offences committed by the Ngatiawa, I look on those perpetrated by you to be of a far more serious nature, and before I can consent to grant you peace I shall require restitution and compensation for the past, and explicit declaration of your intention to conduct yourselves as peaceable and orderly subjects of Her Majesty for the future.
I require—
(1) Entire submission to the Queen and the Law.
(2) All plunder now in your possession to be forthwith given up, and compensation made for that which is not returned, and for property destroyed and injured.
(3) That all mails shall be permitted to pass without interruption, and the mail-carriers protected.
(4) That people, goods, and cattle shall be allowed to pass without molestation.
The grave offence of killing unarmed settlers and children is one against the Queen and the Law, and will not be overlooked. Whenever those men who are charged with having committed that offence are taken by the Officers of Justice they will be tried, and the Law will declare whether they are guilty, and, if guilty, what punishment they shall suffer.
(Signed) T. GORE BROWNE,
Governor.
- The time given to the Ngatiruanui tribe was Saturday, the 13th inst.
Printed by G. W. Woon for the Provincial Government.
Taranaki Provincial Gazette 1861, No 2
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
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Correspondence regarding terms of peace with Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes
(continued from previous page)
🪶 Māori Affairs15 April 1861
Taranaki Tribe, Ngatiruanui Tribe, Peace terms, Native Affairs, Correspondence, Waitara, Restitution, Compensation
- T. Gore Browne, Governor