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Updated: May 10, 2025
'Alas, yes, sobbed Tawhiao; 'what can be done? 'I'll tell you, said Sir George gently. 'We'll both sign a pledge, agreeing to abstain from alcohol in any form. That pledge will mutually bind us for a term of years, and there could be no more sacred contract. It was a bright contract for Tawhiao.
The speech was esteemed by Sir George at more than warriors, and the memory of it made him exclaim: 'Ah, they were fine fellows, those old Maori chieftains! You required to understand them, but they were worth every study; nobles of a noble race! Meanwhile, Te-Whero-Whero had died. A concert of tribes had made him Maori King, and his son Tawhiao succeeded to the newly set up throne.
There would have been no hostility at all if just and considerate treatment had been the rule throughout. In justification of this statement we have only to follow the action of the king-maker, Tamihana, of the old "king," Potatau, and even of his successor, Tawhiao. As long as he lived, old Potatau said Amen at the end of the prayer for the Queen.
Years before, I had bidden him another good-bye, he being then the one who was setting out on a visit to England. Estimated by his name, Tawhiao was a 'scorner of the sun, but unhappily not of spirits. They were apt, in the days when his kingship had grown an empty name, to make him quite unkingly. He naturally called upon Sir George Grey, for years out of official life, to learn about England.
Tawhiao could not frame words for such a person, more especially as he now began to realise that the parables were fitting himself. 'Yes, yes, was his exclamation, 'I understand, I understand! Then he cried like a baby. What judgment would England pass upon King Tawhiao if, while a visitor there, he gave way to drink? He would disgrace, not himself only, but the whole Maori race.
Driven once more to the mountains, he was hunted from place to place by the loyal Maoris, but he was never captured; and for years his sudden murderous raids struck terror into the homes of the colonists. The "king" Tawhiao would have none of him, but at length the government of the day thought it wise to grant him a pardon, and the old outlaw ended his days in peace.
'Word of my presence, Sir George remembered, 'was sent to King Tawhiao, and he started to ride to me, but was unable, being worn out, to complete his journey. With royal etiquette, he had a certificate to that purport made out and sent on to me for my satisfaction. It was drawn up and attested with every precision, and I got it all right, nor could I help laughing at the idea.
'If a man brought about the death of several other men, what would you say? 'Who could be so cruel? It is not possible that anybody could be so wicked. 'If that is your view, Tawhiao, what words would you have for a man who destroyed the happiness of a whole nation, and that his own?
'Will you answer me a question? Sir George broached him, adding: 'There need be no false modesty between friends. Tawhiao waited sedately for the question, which was: 'What would you think of a man who, by some wrong means, had brought about the death of a fellow-being? 'Why, he would be a very bad man; a man deserving of most severe punishment.
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