session was at once thrown open to colonization by any European power. France was not slow to take the hint, and our government is now embarrassed, and we are threatened with differences if not with a quarrel with France, by the actual establishment of a French colony on Banks's Peninsula on the eastern coast of the southern island. It is true that the French are not successful colonizers-that this attempt is paltry, that their means are inadequate-and that the hatred of the New Zealanders towards "the tribe of Marion,"* will either lead to their destruction or force them to amalgamate with the English; but it is the principle involved in the colonization of British territory by the French, which is open to the strongest objection. The French will make useful settlers in New Zealand. The soil and climate are well adapted to the vine, the olive, the mulberry and other productions of southern Europe; of these the English know nothing. The arms of the first colony should therefore be opened to the French-a liberal naturalization law should be among the earliest acts passed for or by New Zealand. As friends and fellow-colonists the French should always be welcome;-but not as rivals; yet how to prevent them establishing themselves as rivals seems difficult, now that ministers declare that we had no sovereignty previous to Captain Hobson's arrival in January last.

Another consequence not contemplated, is a species of dilemma into which the government has been thrown by the determination. Our sovereignty over New Zealand is to take its date from the cession thereof by the chiefs to Captain Hobson, and yet at the same time a commission is appointed to examine titles to land, to confirm such as have been obtained by fair means, and to disallow such as were obtained for a fraudulent or inadequate consideration, or such as are unreasonably large in extent. Now if her Majesty had no sovereignty before the 30th of January, 1840, how can the government exercise any control over the acts of the inhabitants of New Zealand antecedent to that date? Her Majesty's authority, according to the proclamation, no more existed in New Zealand in 1839, than it does in France at this present moment. Could her Majesty issue a commission to take cognizance of the acts of the British inhabitants of Boulogne? Many gentlemen, there,

After Marion du Fresne, the early French navigator, who was killed and eaten by the natives. The French are now known by no other name than Te keveh na Mariou (the final n being changed to u,) or the Tribe of Marion. Polack, vol. ii. 121.

VOL. IX.-NO. XVII.

P

know full well that the Queen's writ, happily for them, does not extend to that pleasant retreat; yet this same New Zealand commission is an assumption of sovereignty over a period of time at which it has been deemed not to exist, and is therefore as completely untenable as an attempt to exercise judicial authority over Boulogne or Calais. The dilemma then resolves itself to this. Either we had sovereignty in New Zealand before Captain Hobson's proclamation or we had not. An enquiry into the title to land under the crown is an exercise of sovereignty. Now if we had no sovereignty, the commission can exercise no jurisdiction and it becomes a weak attempt to push jurisdiction where none can be claimed. If, on the other hand, such jurisdiction, be asserted and insisted. upon, it amounts to an exercise of sovereignty, and Captain Hobson's proclamation becomes a dead letter. To enumerate the inconsistencies into which government must necessarily be involved by the foolish jealousies of the colonial-office would fill one number, and therefore tire our readers. The newly-erected government of New Zealand can scarcely do any two acts, whether administrative or judicial, the one of which will not neutralize, or to use an American term, nullify the other. If they insist on proclamation No. 1, respecting sovereignty, proclamation No. 2, respecting titles, is absurd and untenable. If they say a word against the occupation of the French, the proclamation of sovereignty is asserted to be a dead letter. If courts of justice be established under proclamation No. 1, those courts cannot look back beyond its date, at a time when that which Captain Hobson's chief-justice, and the advocategeneral, will call murder, was a justifiable act-an act sanctioned by the practice of "the independent sovereign New Zealand chiefs." If a delinquent of 1839 be hanged by Captain Hobson in 1840, such an act will nullify his own proclamation, for it would amount to the assertion of a sovereign right which that proclamation denies. A mere tyro in pleading would have no difficulty in drawing a plea in abatement of the indictment, setting forth, that the killing mentioned therein took place while New Zealand was a sovereign and independent state, in which such killing was a perfectly legal act. We might enumerate other difficulties, had we not other and more interesting matter to occupy the remainder of our space. Such are the evils calculated to spring from an ineffectual attempt to stop the colonization of New Zealand.

In the early part of March, the company received intelligence of the safe arrival of the Tory at Cook's Strait, after a

rapid and prosperous voyage of ninety-six days. This event had been looked for with great anxiety by all persons in any way interested in New Zealand. Every thing had gone on well in this country, but the friends of those bold and energetic men who had ventured their lives and fortunes in the "first colony," could not conceal from themselves, that there were many contingencies which might have thrown a damp upon the enterprise. A disaster to the first expedition might have been fatal to the hopes of the colonists and of their friends in this country.

The publication of Colonel Wakefield's first dispatch, in a second edition of the New Zealand Journal, on the 10th of March, dispelled all gloom; the more especially as the shortness of the voyage enabled Colonel Wakefield to fulfil all the expectations of the Company.

It is true that, in contemplation of the bare possibility of disaster to the Tory, every arrangement which prudence could dictate was made to obviate its effect. The officers, who afterwards embarked in the Cuba, were empowered to do all the first expedition could do, and were, moreover, furnished with the means of so doing. Nay more, had disaster overtaken both vessels, the means of repairing it in some degree accompanied the first colony. But as it has happened, early delay would have been all but fatal to the successful planting of the colony. The Cuba made a long passage; and the Adelaide, as we have already stated, was injudiciously carried into the Cape, and a delay of another month would probably have thrown the best of the lands into the hands of the missionaries—an event as injurious to the welfare of the natives* as to that of the colonists. Colonel Wakefield found the missionaries at PortNicholson; but when his proposals were heard, and the operation of the reserved lands explained to the chiefs, the missionary proposals were rejected, and they were compelled to return to their station disappointed, and of course imbued with hatred most orthodox against those who had so successfully out-bid them in the land-market.

The Tory anchored in Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound,

The Missionaries of the Church Missionary Society have possessed themselves of immense tracts of land, without any provision-without the slightest regard for the temporal welfare of the natives-whilst the company reserve onetenth of all their lands to be held in rust for the benefit of the chiefs. The lots drawn for the natives were good numbers; and it so happens that their lands, which in August last were worth 11,000l. are now worth at least 25,0001. The Catholic mission is free from the taint of what has been called land sharking; so we believe are the Wesleyans.

on the 16th of August, and we have now intelligence from New Zealand up to the middle of March. These seven months form an important epoch in the history of New Zealand. A large territory has been acquired for the New Zealand Company, embracing the whole of the southern portion of the northern island, and the northern portion of the southern island, and comprising Cook's Strait-a great maritime highway, with numerous free harbours. Twelve hundred British people have been established on a spot admirably suited to commerce. These proceedings, important as they are in themselves, have been productive of still more important consequences. Law and order have been proclaimed among a population notorious for licentiousness and anarchy, and so great a transfusion of all that is sound in society will immediately take place, that New Zealand must necessarily take a high place among our colonial possessions. Our limited space will not permit us to quote Colonel Wakefield's despatches; we must, therefore, content ourselves by stating that New Zealand possesses all the requisites for a flourishing colony. The whole face of the country differs greatly from the Australian continent for such is the fact. Australia always gives one the idea of a country in an imperfect state of formation, and so indeed it is. Volcanic disturbance has been wanting. The whole surface of the country wants a great upheaving, in order to adapt it for the habitation of man. The want of broken ground is a great evil. The mountain torrent, and the highly fertilized valley, are there almost unknown, and the vast plains are but thinly timbered. In America, the manner in which a country is timbered, is the criterion by which the soil is judged of, and there is doubtless much truth in the test. Now New Zealand would in this respect abundantly satisfy a Yankey chopper. The country is a succession of richly wooded hills, sometimes rising to mountains, and fertile valleys. The country is intersected in every direction with magnificent rivers, and mountain streams; many of these are navigable, and others may, and will hereafter be rendered so, and all spread their fertilizing influence over the valleys.

The climate is unexceptionable. The droughts which prevail in Australia are unknown. Rain is frequent, though not so much so as in this country; and disease is rare among the people. All the productions of this country, and most of those of Southern Europe, flourish in New Zealand. It is especially a wheat growing country; and, in a Sydney paper now before us, we find New Zealand seed wheat advertised at one guinea

per bushel! The vine, the olive, the mulberry, flourish almost without the aid of man.

The natives, too, instead of being a drawback, are a decided acquisition. Great mistakes are usually made touching the qualifications of native tribes. The chief evil, and that which tends to the extermination of the aborigines, is want of capacity. It is not ferocity but barbarism that is the great drawback to civilization. All energetic tribes are ferocious. We ourselves have been ferocious beyond all example in history; but we have enormous energy. Ferocity melts away as intelligence increases. That the New Zealanders will civilize easily there cannot be a doubt. In the first place they never were hunters, as there never were animals to hunt; hence they commence at a stage of civilization somewhat removed from utter barbarism. As a consequence of this they have considerable mechanical skill. They adopt with great readiness European improvements, and use tools with a degree of dexterity which excites the surprise of every one. They have built boats, and even schooners, and their skill in seamanship is great. Many of the traders between Sydney and the Bay of Islands are manned by New Zealanders; and some are thoroughly competent to take the command of large ships.

Another circumstance in their favour is their physical superiority. The women are for the most part comely, and many very beautiful. Moreover they are gentle in their manners, and much attached to the men with whom they connect themselves. Several of the Europeans have taken New Zealand wives, and there is every probability of an extensive amalgamation. Of course occasional union will take place between Europeans and the women of all native tribes with whom they have intercourse, but amalgamation properly speaking has never taken place any where but in New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawai, and other islands of the Pacific. In short the character of the New Zealanders forbids the idea of extermination. They may ultimately be lost by amalgamation with Europeans, but that is a process which is not only brought about without suffering, but is productive of the happiest consequences. We have examined some of the portraits of chiefs sent home by Mr. Heaphy, the draftsman of the company, and, excepting always the tattooing, there is nothing to indicate the savage. Dignity, intelligence, and even mildness of temper, are conspicuous in some of them; and nearly all, but especially the chief Hiko, exhibit precisely that kind of manly beauty which women love to look on.