Читать книгу The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British Colony - Buick Thomas Lindsay - Страница 7

So soon as the Herald was come to anchor she was boarded by Mr. Busby and three of the resident Missionaries, from whom Captain Hobson learned that his apprehensions regarding French occupancy were groundless, the tricolour on the hill indicating no more than the whereabouts of Bishop Pompallier's church. One of the visitors who had come thus early to pay his respects to the new Governor was Mr. Colenso, with whom Captain Hobson entered into an arrangement for the printing, at the press of the Church Missionary Society, of circular letters inviting the chiefs to meet him at Mr. Busby's residence at Waitangi on the following Wednesday, for the purpose of discussing the proposals of the British Government; and to all the British residents requesting their presence at the Mission church at Kororareka on the following day, there to hear Her Majesty's Commission under the Great Seal, extending the limits of the colony of New South Wales, and also Her Majesty's Commission under the Royal signet and Sign manual, appointing Captain Hobson as Lieutenant-Governor over such part of that colony as might be acquired in Sovereignty in New Zealand. These invitations were in circulation on the following morning, messengers being despatched to inform the chiefs, while the European residents perused the notice issued to them with marked interest and mixed feelings. During the afternoon Captain Hobson, accompanied by Captain Nias and his officers, landed on the Kororareka beach, and walking to the church there read his Letters Patent in the presence of the assembled people, forty of whom so far signified their approval of the proceedings as to subscribe their names to the document. The proclamations framed by Sir George Gipps and his Executive were also read, the first announcing that Her Majesty's authority had been asserted over British subjects in New Zealand; the second, which was by no means so popular, acquainting the public of the fact that Her Majesty did not deem it expedient to acknowledge as valid any titles to land in New Zealand which were not derived from, or confirmed by, a grant from the Crown.

These ceremonies concluded, the intervening days were spent in completing arrangements for the fateful gathering on the 5th, not the least arduous duty being the drafting of the treaty, upon the acceptance or rejection of which everything would depend. The exigencies of the position demanded that the greatest care should be exercised in framing the terms of the document,51 because while it was desired that the proposal of the Crown should be stated with the utmost frankness, the least looseness of expression might imperil the whole project by raising ungrounded alarm in the minds of the natives.

To guard against this it was necessary that those concerned in the preparation of the treaty should have not only a full knowledge of the Crown's intentions, but also an intimate acquaintance with the subtleties of the native character. This latter qualification neither Captain Hobson nor the members of his staff possessed even in a remote degree. To add to their difficulties, Captain Hobson began now to experience the first symptoms of that illness which in less than three years proved fatal to him. He became indisposed, and was unable to leave the Herald. In the seclusion of his cabin, however, he devoted himself to an effort to reduce to concrete terms the obligations in which the Crown was prepared to involve itself, and the reciprocating advantages it would require from the natives. In this he achieved but meagre success, and conscious of failure he despatched his chief clerk, Mr. George Cooper, to Mr. Busby, giving him his rough notes together with a request that the erstwhile Resident might favour him with his opinion as to their suitability as the basis of the treaty.

Mr. Busby had no hesitation in saying that he regarded them as quite unsuitable, but offered to prepare the draft treaty for Captain Hobson's consideration, if such a service would be acceptable. To this Mr. Cooper replied that nothing would afford His Excellency greater pleasure, as he recognised that Mr. Busby's seven years of official training and native experience had furnished him with many qualifications for the task. The result was entirely satisfactory. The draft prepared by Mr. Busby was adopted by Captain Hobson without alteration beyond the transposition of certain paragraphs, which did not in any degree affect the spirit or the sense of what has long been regarded as the Maori Magna Charta.

A pleasant interlude was afforded by the presentation to Captain Hobson of an Address of Welcome by forty-five of the settlers, in which they expressed their gratification at his safe arrival, and at the early prospect of the establishment of British law and authority in the Islands, which had long been the desire nearest to their hearts. They expressed equal gratification at the appointment of a gentleman as Lieutenant-Governor so distinguished for courage, firmness, justice, and humanity as Captain Hobson, presaging as it did a bright era of prosperity for the colony. They expressed their readiness to await with patience the unfolding of a scheme of government in which the best interests of all were involved, and promised not only to continue the service of loyal subjects of the Queen, but to aid with their best exertions her representative in establishing order, law, and security for life and property in what they were pleased to designate "this improving and important colony."

As was becoming of him, Captain Hobson replied in most gracious terms, which seemed to indicate the existence of a useful harmony between the new Governor and the more decently-disposed settlers.

Not so the speculative element, who were deeply chagrined at the unexpected turn affairs had taken. To these law-breakers the arrival of Hobson meant the complete suspension of their future operations, and what was equally distasteful, a revision of their past transactions. Their hope, therefore, lay in preventing the consummation of the official plan, and before the Lieutenant-Governor had been at the Bay twelve hours, the lawless and the land-grabber were busy poisoning the native mind against the Governor's proposal, telling them with many dark insinuations and bitter taunts, that now they were to be made taurekareka– the "slaves" of the Queen.

These mischievous suggestions naturally had a disquieting influence upon the minds of many of the chiefs, who had not as yet gathered the full purport of the impending change, and whose haughty spirit rebelled against the prospect of any loss in tribal dignity. Fortunately they were able to appeal with confidence to the Missionaries, and to the credit of that body it must be said that they were as loyal to their country as they had already proved themselves faithful to their church. Mr. Henry Williams, the head of the Church Missionary Society's group of Missionaries, than whom no man wielded greater influence with the natives at this period, was not at the Bay of Islands when the Herald arrived. He had just returned to the Waimate Mission station from the Manawatu, whither he had gone with Tamihana Te Rauparaha, and Matene te Whiwhi, to install the Rev. Octavius Hadfield in his West Coast charge. The hurried decision of the Home Government to forestall the New Zealand Company had been as unknown to him as it was to the other residents of New Zealand, and the first intimation he had that the change he so much desired was near fruition, was a letter from the Bishop of Australia informing him of Captain Hobson's arrival in Sydney, and the rumoured report of his mission. Bishop Broughton earnestly advised the Missionary to assist Captain Hobson to the end that success might crown his efforts.52