Part 10 (2/2)

Here Mr. Busby joined in the discussion by reminding Mr. Colenso that the best answer that could be given to his observation would be found in the speech made yesterday by the very chief about to sign, Hone Heke, who said ”the native mind could not comprehend these things; they must trust to the advice of their Missionaries.”

”Yes, that is the very thing to which I was going to allude,” replied Mr. Colenso. ”The Missionaries should do so, but at the same time the Missionaries should explain the thing in all its bearings to the natives, so that it should be their very own act and deed. Then in case of a reaction taking place, the natives could not turn round on the Missionary and say, ”You advised me to sign that paper, but never told me what were the contents thereof.”[88]

Captain Hobson, who had evidently not contemplated this contingency, expressed the hope that no such reaction would take place. ”I think,”

he said, ”that the people under your care will be peaceable enough: I am sure you will endeavour to make them so. And as to those that are without, why, we must endeavour to do our best with them.”

This att.i.tude on the part of the Governor sufficed to satisfy Mr.

Colenso, who had no desire to be contumacious, but having conscientious doubts upon the native grasp of a subject necessarily foreign to their tribal policy, he felt it his duty to give full expression to those doubts, and he thanked His Excellency for having given him the opportunity to do so.

Hone Heke then put his name upon the parchment,[89] and as if to answer the objection raised by Mr. Colenso, he told the people in a brief speech that he fully approved of the proceeding, as they all needed protection from every foreign power, and they well knew the fostering care of the Queen of England towards them.

With so propitious a lead there was no further hesitancy on the part of the remaining chiefs, and the process of recording their signatures went merrily on. While it was proceeding, Marupo, a chief of the Whanaurara tribe, and Ruhe, a chief of the Ngatihineira tribe, were busy making violent speeches against the treaty. Both warriors delivered themselves in the style characteristic of their people when they have serious business on hand, running sharply up and down a beaten avenue, gesticulating energetically, stamping their feet, and pouring out their denunciations with a volubility that was difficult to follow. Marupo, who had discarded all his clothing except a _piupiu_ made of reeds which hung round his waist, was especially determined in his opposition, continuing his harangue until voice and body failed from sheer physical exhaustion.

Then realising that his oratory had not turned the tide of public opinion, and that the adoption of the treaty was inevitable, he and his compatriots, appreciating the advantage of being on the popular side, joined the ranks of the signatories and drew their _moko_[90]

upon the parchment.

Marupo signalised his conversion by shaking hands heartily--even violently--with the Governor, and desired to confirm the new-formed friends.h.i.+p by seizing the Governor's hat, which was lying on the table, and putting it upon his head.

The next of the insurgents to surrender was the versatile but volatile Te Kemara, who, when he had succ.u.mbed to the pressure of the popular will, volunteered the statement that he had been influenced in his opposition by the French Bishop, who had told him ”not to write on the paper, for if he did he would be made a slave.”

The only chief of high standing who was present and had not now signed the treaty was Rewa, but his obduracy was at length overcome, he yielding to the persuasions of his tribal friends, supported by the advice of the Church Missionaries, and when at length he drew his curious hieroglyphics upon the parchment, he too admitted that his opposition had been wholly inspired by the Bishop, who had earnestly interceded with him not to become a party to the treaty.

Captain Hobson, who had apparently recovered from his recent indisposition, appeared to be in the cheeriest of spirits, and as each chief signed the treaty he took him by the hand, and repeating in Maori ”_He iwi tahi tatou_”--”We are now one people”--paid a little compliment to the native race that was hugely appreciated by the recipients.[91]

During the course of the morning small contingents of natives had been arriving from distant parts, who had not been present at the previous day's proceedings owing to the unavoidable delay in receiving their summoning circulars, but after brief explanations by their friends, they, without exception, subscribed to the Queen's proposal to give their country a stable Government. Altogether forty-five chiefs signed the treaty on this eventful February 6, but they were for the most part men of only moderate influence, and with the exception of Waaka Nene, and his brother Eruera Patuone, who hailed from Hokianga, and Kauwhata, Wharau, and Ngere, from w.a.n.garuru, all were resident within the immediate vicinity of the Bay of Islands. Twenty-six of these, however, had signed the much-despised Declaration of Independence five years before, and Captain Hobson so far concluded that their acquiescence in his present mission ”must be deemed a full and clear recognition of the sovereign rights of Her Majesty over the northern parts of this Island,” that he immediately arranged with Captain Nias to announce the cession on the morrow with a salute of twenty-one guns from the deck of the _Herald_.[92]

Having now concluded the official portion of the business, Captain Hobson, who had conducted the whole of the proceedings with conspicuous patience and ability, left the meeting under a volley of cheers from the natives, which resounded through the hills and across the sunny waters of the Bay.

”In the course of these proceedings,” wrote Captain Hobson to Sir George Gipps, ”I have courted the utmost publicity, and I have forborne to adopt even the customary measure of propitiating the consent of the chiefs by promises of presents, and not until the treaty was signed did I give them anything. To have sent them home without some acknowledgment would have been a violation of their customs, and would have given offence. I therefore distributed a few articles of trifling value before they separated.”

This distribution was entrusted to Mr. Colenso, each chief who had signed the treaty receiving two blankets and a quant.i.ty of tobacco, and ”by dint of close and constant attention,” reports that gentleman, ”the said distribution went off well without any mishap or hitch.”

Next morning broke with a grey sky and rain so incessant as to dissipate all hope of holding the contemplated meeting. Neither was it deemed advisable under such depressing circ.u.mstances to proclaim the event by a Royal salute, so that by a strange perversion of fate, Friday the 7th, which was to have been the day of days, pa.s.sed off cold, bleak, and uneventful. It was not, therefore, until Sat.u.r.day the 8th that the proceedings, so far as they had gone, were fully consummated. This was accomplished amidst the floating of bunting and the booming of guns, for upon this bright and sunny day it may be said that New Zealand became a British colony, and what some of us are vain enough to regard as the brightest jewel in Britain's Crown.[93]

[51] The number and extent of the erasures in the original draft indicate that the greatest care was taken in its composition by those concerned.

[52] ”Upon the fullest consideration my judgment inclines me strongly to recommend you, and through you, all the other members of the Mission, that your influence should be exercised amongst the chiefs attached to you, to induce them to make the desired surrender of sovereignty to Her Majesty.”--Bishop Broughton's letter to Mr. Henry Williams.

[53] Mr. Busby's house was built of Australian hard wood, and though upwards of eighty years old is still standing in an excellent state of preservation. The property is now occupied by Mr. Theo. A. Izard, who recently unearthed on the site where the marquee was erected the iron shoe of a military tent-peg of the period, doubtless one that was used in connection with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

[54] Waitangi signifies ”crying water,” and there were many people superst.i.tious enough to believe that the choice of this spot was a bad omen.

[55] The man who stands in the centre of the canoe and gives the time to the rowers.

[56] Amongst the Americans present were several of the scientists attached to the United States exploring expedition, under Commander Wilkes, who had a.s.sembled at the Bay of Islands to await the return of their vessels from the Antarctic. With the exception of Bishop Pompallier the Frenchmen at the Bay were conspicuous by their absence, believing that in this way they were offering a protest against the proceedings.

[57] This was a clever strategetical move on the part of the Bishop, who, though protesting that he was not concerned in a political negotiation, evidently saw the advantage of utilising the occasion to make an impression on the native mind in the interests of his Church.

In his published account of the event Bishop Pompallier makes it appear that the Protestant Missionaries had been circulating the statement amongst the natives that he would not ”dare” to put in an appearance at the meeting. He was, however, specially invited by Captain Hobson, and he made the most of the opportunity thus given him.

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