It was like love-making.
During his first rule in New Zealand, Sir George held a conference of
Maori chiefs, Te-Whero-Whero being present. He had come along, in the
train of the Governor, without any of his own people, who lived farther
north. It grieved him to be thus situate, at a crisis when the ability to
tender assistance in men, might be of the utmost worth.
'Those other chiefs,' he addressed Sir George, 'are all inferior to me,
but they have their retainers with them. They are promising you to bring
so much strength into the field, while, for myself, I have no one here. I
seem not to aid you at all, but as long as I am separated from my own
people I'll fight in the ranks of some other chief. You have treated me
badly, in that I am here without support to give you. You force me to put
myself in quite a humble position.'
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. It
was the symbol of a movement to keep the Maori nation intact, though land
rights were the immediate subject of clash.
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