CHAPTER IV
THE MAORI MAGNA CHARTA
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 a.s.sembled people, forty of whom so far signified their approval of the proceedings as to subscribe their names to the doc.u.ment. The proclamations framed by Sir George Gipps and his Executive were also read, the first announcing that Her Majesty"s authority had been a.s.serted 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 t.i.tles 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 doc.u.ment,[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 a.s.sist Captain Hobson to the end that success might crown his efforts.[52]
Closely following upon this came a letter, dated January 30, 1840, from Captain Hobson, inviting Mr. Williams to meet him at his earliest convenience, and although it was late at night when the messenger arrived, he made immediate preparations to comply with the request.
Leaving home early in the morning the energetic Missionary boarded the _Herald_ that afternoon, and congratulated the newly-arrived Governor upon his coming, which indeed was a pleasant surprise. He a.s.sured him of the hearty support of the Missionaries in the purpose of establishing Her Majesty"s authority in the Islands, and of his own personal aid to any extent that it might be of service to him.
Of this offer Captain Hobson availed himself a few days later, when at 4 P.M. on February 4 he brought to him the draft of the treaty which had been prepared for submission to the chiefs at Waitangi on the morrow, and asked that he might be good enough to translate it into the native language. In this Mr. Williams had the a.s.sistance of his son Edward, who was then regarded as the scholar _par excellence_ in the Nga-Puhi dialect, the purest of all the dialects of the Maori tongue.
The task of translation was necessarily a difficult one, it being essential that there should be a complete avoidance of all expressions of the English for which there was no equivalent in Maori, and yet permitting no alterations which would destroy the original spirit and tenor of the treaty. Upon its completion the work was revised by Mr.
Busby, who suggested the elimination of the word _huihuinga_ used by the translators, and the subst.i.tution of _whakaminenga_ to more adequately express the idea of the Maori Confederation of Chiefs.
With this exception the translation was adopted, and the excellence of its rendering may be judged from the fact that though it has been many times tried by the most accomplished of Maori scholars, the translation has never been shaken, and stands to-day a perfect native reflex of the European mind, conveying in all probability a clearer view to the Maori of what the treaty meant than the English version has done to the average _Pakeha_.
The scene chosen for the conference with the chiefs was the lawn in front of Mr. Busby"s house,[53] which stands upon a gently sloping promontory directly opposite the old town of Kororareka. A large and commodious building, with its French cas.e.m.e.nts, cedar doors, and old-fashioned fittings, it looks out across the Bay from the seclusion of its plantation of imported trees. Down between the house and the sea beach there runs a gra.s.sy slope, at the termination of which rises a grove of the beautiful _Pohutukawa_, which had just shed their blaze of Christmas bloom when Captain Hobson arrived.
To the right flow the tidal waters of the Waitangi River, whose falls four miles beyond its mouth have given their name to the district.[54]
Upon the flat which fringes the river bank, the Maoris camped amongst the cabbage palms, and the smoke of their fires might have been seen curling upwards until it was lost in the mists of the morning air.
Still farther to the right, and across the river, under the forest-clad hill, nestled the little Mission station of Paihia, where Mr. Colenso was industriously producing copies of the New Testament from his primitive printing-press. Away to the left, in Oihi Bay, stands the cross marking the spot where the first Christian sermon was preached to the Maoris by Samuel Marsden, on Christmas Day of 1814, and between these two points where they had first received the spoken and the written Word, the natives were now asked to decide a question that very largely involved their political salvation.
The morning of the auspicious day (Wednesday, February 5) broke with nature"s approving smile upon it. The sun shining brightly in the Heavens lit up the blue waters of the Bay, the slopes of the brown hills, the shadows of the sombre forest in which the birds sang even more blithely than was their wont. Many of the natives had arrived during the previous day, and the face of the harbour was still alive with canoes speeding from all directions to the place of meeting, their crews keeping time with their paddles to the chant of the excited _Kai tuki_[55] as he stood upon the centre thwart, urging by word, song, and gesture, a more vigorous bending of broad backs and straining of tawny arms in the hope of outstripping his opponents in the race to Waitangi.
On sh.o.r.e a large marquee had been erected upon the gra.s.sy lawn in front of Mr. Busby"s residence, towards which the bunting of the _Herald_ had been liberally applied, the Union Jack waving gaily over the whole scene until the official proceedings were begun, when it was lowered as an indication that sovereignty had not yet been ceded to the Queen. The ships in the harbour had likewise marked the occasion by displaying all their bright flags and in the brilliant sunlight the scene was one of picturesque animation, not the least interesting feature being the blue-shirted settlers--British and American[56]--promenading on the lawn. As a counterpoise to these there were the groups of natives squatting on the ground, each tribe discussing with ample gesticulation and volubility the treaty from their own immediate point of view. "Beyond the grounds," writes Dr.
Bright, "refreshment was vended to the Europeans and many a cork (adopting a poetic phrase) escaped its gla.s.sy confines, to let out, not a lake, but Dunbar"s foaming stout, or Hodge"s paler streams. Nor were more patrician fluids wanting; nor yet ardent cognac; nor the clear burning fluid of St. Giles" dames; nor the spirit of storms, rum, which sailors gulp, ingulphing a torrid zone within no temperate one--all waters of fire to the sober Maori, and which they might be taught are waters that the Devil navigates to reach the island of the soul. Nor was there wanting solid aliment--pork, salt and fresh, in various forms of hams, cold roast, pork pies, and baskets of bread and biscuit all to be trans.m.u.ted into money. Troops of natives came from all directions to the _korero_ with the _rangatira nui_, or great gentleman from England. You might inspect a group of brown skins and then a group of white skins, and with but little puzzling discern the same stage-stock of feelings common to both. The Europeans were very numerous but the natives were more so, many who came from a distance carrying guns. What, thought I, if these savages refuse to accede to the treaty, is to hinder them from driving us into the sea, or into their ovens? What greater proof of their sovereignty than their willingness to yield it up to us?"
At 9 o"clock the Lieutenant-Governor, accompanied by Captain Nias, landed at Waitangi, and they were shortly afterwards followed by the officers of the ship, Lieutenant Shortland and the members of the civil staff, and by the Missionaries who were resident in and about the Bay of Islands.
During this time Captain Hobson, Mr. Busby, and Mr. Henry Williams, were engaged in a final discussion upon the treaty and its translation. At 10.30 Bishop Pompallier, the newly-appointed Roman Catholic Bishop of Oceania, dressed in full canonicals[57] and accompanied by one of his priests[58] arrived from Kororareka, and without displaying any hesitation, walked straight to Mr. Busby"s house, and entered the room in which the Lieutenant-Governor and his a.s.sociates were in close conference. The Bishop"s manner was so full of confident a.s.surance that the two constables[59] standing on guard at the door were so completely taken by surprise that they failed to challenge the cleric"s right to enter. The incident was equally startling in its dramatic suddenness to all the astonished onlookers, and it made a considerable impression upon the natives. In their eyes the pomp and circ.u.mstance implied by the ecclesiastical dress meant much, while the air of superior authority with which the proceeding had been carried out conveyed the suggestion to them that this man must indeed be a _rangatira_.[60]
A buzz of comment arose, the natives whispering amongst themselves, "_Ko ia anote tino rangatira! Ko Pikopo[61] anake te hoa mo te Kawana._" "This surely is the chief gentleman. The Bishop only is the companion for the Governor."
The importance of these comments were not lost upon the Church Missionaries, who were deferentially standing outside, and a hurried conference resulted in their deciding to be on equal terms with the Bishop. They accordingly moved towards the house, and had just reached the verandah when an announcement was made that the Lieutenant-Governor intended to hold a levee in order that all who had not already been introduced to him, and desired to have that privilege, might do so by entering at one door and pa.s.sing out at another. While the introductions were proceeding Bishop Pompallier remained in the room, and as the Missionaries were unable to take their position with him owing to the crush in the narrow pa.s.sage, they made a virtue of necessity and coldly declined to partic.i.p.ate in the ceremony.
The levee over, and it was not a lengthy proceeding, Captain Nias and Mr. Busby, preceded by the representatives of the police, came out of the house followed by the Lieutenant-Governor, and in this order the procession was moving towards the tent when the Bishop and his a.s.sociate stepped briskly forward and took their positions immediately behind Captain Hobson, thus giving the Protestant Missionaries no option but to follow in his wake. "Brethren," said Mr. Colenso, "this won"t do. We must never consent to this position."
"No," replied the Rev. Richard Taylor, "I will never consent to follow Rome," and so saying he and his brethren quietly withdrew from the procession and made their way unofficially towards the marquee.
A raised platform had been erected at the end of the marquee, and on this the Lieutenant-Governor and Captain Nias took their seats. Bishop Pompallier and his priest were shown to chairs on the left, and Mr.
Henry Williams was directed to a chair on the Governor"s right. The other missionaries, Messrs. King, Kemp, Baker, Clarke, and Colenso[62]
were modestly standing behind this group when Lieutenant Shortland, who was acting as Secretary to the Governor and as Master of Ceremonies, plucked Mr. Colenso by the sleeve of his coat and said, "Go over to that end and support your cloth," an intimation which, according to Mr. Colenso, they lost no time in attending to, ranging themselves as best they could behind Mr. Williams.
Meanwhile the crowd had been acc.u.mulating, and were rapidly finding positions of vantage within the tent. "The scene," says an eye-witness,[63] "was very interesting and impressive. In the centre of the narrow raised platform were the Governor and Captain of the man-of-war in full uniform, on the Governor"s left were Mr. Busby and the Roman Catholic Bishop in canonicals, his ma.s.sive gold chain and crucifix glistening on his dark purple-coloured habit. On the right of His Excellency were the members of the Church of England Mission, in plain black dresses. The different officers of the _Herald_ together with His Excellency"s suite stationed themselves as best they could--some here and there on the platform, and some immediately before it. In front of the platform, in the foreground, were the princ.i.p.al native chiefs of several tribes, some clothed with dog-skin mats made of alternate longitudinal stripes of black and white hair.
Others were habited in splendid-looking new woollen cloaks[64] of crimson, blue, brown, and plaid, and indeed of every shade of striking colour such as I had never before seen in New Zealand, while some were dressed in plain European, and some in common native dresses. Near by, in the midst, stood Hakitara, a tall native of the Rarawa tribe, dressed in a very large and handsome silky white _Kaitaka_ mat--a garment of the finest and best kind, and only worn by superior chiefs--fringed with a deep and dark coloured woven border of a lozenge and zigzag pattern, the whole of native and national design and manufacture. The sunlight streaming down from an aperture in the top of the tent on this beautiful white dress, admired by natives and Europeans alike, threw the figure of this chief into very prominent and conspicuous relief, forming a fine contrast to the deep and dark shades of colour around; whilst here and there a _hani_ or _taiaha_[65] was seen erected adorned with the long flowing white hair of the tails of the New Zealand dog, and crimson cloth and red feathers. In the distance the raven black and glossy locks of the natives, gracefully ornamented with the snow-white and drooping feathers of sea-birds, and of the white crane, forming a striking contrast, added much to the _tout ensemble_. Around the sides of the tent were the whites, residents, and settlers, by far the greater part being very respectably dressed; and outside of them, against the walls of the tent were flags of different nations, which from the brightness of their colours, gave a charming air of liveliness to the whole, the table being covered by the vivid colours of the Union Jack."
As Captain Hobson rose from his seat the hum of human voices which filled the tent suddenly ceased. Animated conversation gave way to an air of silent expectancy as the Queen"s representative began to speak in slow and measured tones. His speech had been carefully prepared, and for the purposes of greater accuracy he relied upon extensive notes.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. BUSBY"S RESIDENCE.
Where the Treaty was signed.]
"Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland," he said, "wishing to do good to the chiefs and people of New Zealand, and for the welfare of her subjects living amongst you, has sent me to this place as Governor. But as the law of England gives no civil powers to Her Majesty out of her dominions, her efforts to do you good will be futile unless you consent. Her Majesty has commanded me to explain these matters to you, that you may understand them. The people of Great Britain are, thank G.o.d! free, and so long as they do not transgress the laws, they can go where they please, and their sovereign has no power to restrain them. You have sold them lands here and encouraged them to come here. Her Majesty, always ready to protect her subjects is also always ready to restrain them. Her Majesty the Queen asks you to sign this treaty, and to give her that power which shall enable her to restrain them. I ask you for this publicly: I do not go from one chief to another. I will give you time to consider the proposal I shall now offer you. What I wish you to do is expressly for your own good, as you will soon see by the treaty. You yourselves have often asked the King of England to extend his protection unto you. Her Majesty now offers you that protection in this treaty. I think it is not necessary to say any more about it. I will therefore read the treaty."[66]
In a clear voice His Excellency then read the treaty in English for the benefit of the European settlers, the terms of the doc.u.ment being as follows:
TREATY OF WAITANGI
HER MAJESTY VICTORIA, Queen of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and Ireland regarding with her Royal favour the Native chiefs and tribes in New Zealand, and anxious to protect their just rights and property, and to secure to them the enjoyment of peace and good order, has deemed it necessary in consequence of the great number of Her Majesty"s subjects who have already settled in New Zealand, and the rapid extension of emigration both from Europe and Australia which is still in progress, to const.i.tute and appoint a functionary properly authorised to treat with the aborigines of New Zealand for the recognition of Her Majesty"s sovereign authority over the whole or any part of those Islands. Her Majesty, therefore, being desirous to establish a settled form of Civil Government with a view to avert the evil consequences which must result from the absence of the necessary laws and inst.i.tutions, alike to the native population and to her subjects, has been graciously pleased to empower and authorise me, William Hobson, a Captain in Her Majesty"s Royal Navy, Consul and Lieutenant-Governor of such parts of New Zealand as may be or hereafter shall be ceded to Her Majesty, to invite the confederate and independent chiefs of New Zealand to concur in the following articles and conditions:
_Article the First_
The chiefs of the Confederation of the United tribes of New Zealand, and the separate and independent chiefs who have not become members of the Confederation, cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England, absolutely and without reservation, all the rights and powers of sovereignty which the said confederation or individual chiefs respectively exercise or possess, or may be supposed to exercise or possess over their respective territories as the sole Sovereigns thereof.
_Article the Second_
Her Majesty, the Queen of England, confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and to the respective families and individuals thereof the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess, so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession; but the chiefs of the United tribes and the individual chiefs yield to Her Majesty the exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to alienate, at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with them in that behalf.
_Article the Third_
In consideration thereof Her Majesty, the Queen of England, extends to the natives of New Zealand her Royal protection, and imparts to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects.
W. HOBSON, Lieutenant-Governor.
Now, therefore, we the chiefs of the Confederation of the United tribes of New Zealand, being a.s.sembled in congress at Victoria, in Waitangi, and we the separate and independent chiefs of New Zealand, claiming authority over the tribes and territories which are specified after our respective names, having been made fully to understand the provisions of the foregoing treaty, accept and enter into the same in the full spirit and meaning thereof; in witness of which we have attached our signatures or marks at the places and the dates respectively specified.
When he had concluded, he turned to Mr. Henry Williams, and invited him to read to the natives the translation which had been prepared in the Maori language.
"In the midst of profound silence," Mr. Williams wrote in subsequent years, "I read the treaty to all a.s.sembled. I told all to listen with care; explaining clause by clause to the chiefs, giving them caution not to be in a hurry, but telling them that we, the Missionaries, fully approved of the treaty, that it was an act of love towards them, on the part of the Queen, who desired to secure to them their property, rights, and privileges. That this treaty was a fortress to them against any foreign power which might desire to take possession of their country, as the French had taken possession of Otiaiti."