The forbearance of the British in New Zealand has had
its na- Ural consequence, in new excesses by the Natives ; and a con- tinuance of that forbearance seems likely to prolong the suicidal contumacy of the Aborigines. The account of the British ma- noeuvres at Wanganui—the troops marching out every day for a bootless popping at their Parthian enemy, and then retreating every night into the safe shelter of a stockade—is humiliating. Humanity may dictate that undecisive demeanour, but to the barbarians it must look like sheer cowardice ; so that their inevi- table presuming on our hesitation will stultify our mercy, and eventually cost more blood than the cruelest form of prompt chastisement : already the " philanthropic " policy has been paid for in blood, and it is quite clear that more will have to flow.
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