Captain Hobson, who had apparently recovered from his recent indisposition, appeared to be in the cheeriest of spirits, and as each chief signed the treaty he took him by the hand, and repeating in Maori "He iwi tahi tatou"—"We are now one people"—paid a little compliment to the native race that was hugely appreciated by the recipients.[91]
During the course of the morning small contingents of natives had been arriving from distant parts, who had not been present at the previous day's proceedings owing to the unavoidable delay in receiving their summoning circulars, but after brief explanations by their friends, they, without exception, subscribed to the Queen's proposal to give their country a stable Government. Altogether forty-five chiefs signed the treaty on this eventful February 6, but they were for the most part men of only moderate influence, and with the exception of Waaka Nēne, and his brother Eruera Patuone, who hailed from Hokianga, and Kauwhata, Wharau, and Ngere, from Wangaruru, all were resident within the immediate vicinity of the Bay of Islands. Twenty-six of these, however, had signed the much-despised Declaration of Independence five years before, and Captain Hobson so far concluded that their acquiescence in his present mission "must be deemed a full and clear recognition of the sovereign rights of Her Majesty over the northern parts of this Island," that he immediately arranged with Captain Nias to announce the cession on the morrow with a salute of twenty-one guns from the deck of the Herald.[92]
Having now concluded the official portion of the business, Captain Hobson, who had conducted the whole of the proceedings with conspicuous patience and ability, left the meeting under a volley of cheers from the natives, which resounded through the hills and across the sunny waters of the Bay.
"In the course of these proceedings," wrote Captain Hobson to Sir George Gipps, "I have courted the utmost publicity, and I have forborne to adopt even the customary measure of propitiating the consent of the chiefs by promises of presents, and not until the treaty was signed did I give them anything. To have sent them home without some acknowledgment would have been a violation of their customs, and would have given offence. I therefore distributed a few articles of trifling value before they separated."
This distribution was entrusted to Mr. Colenso, each chief who had signed the treaty receiving two blankets and a quantity of tobacco, and "by dint of close and constant attention," reports that gentleman, "the said distribution went off well without any mishap or hitch."
Next morning broke with a grey sky and rain so incessant as to dissipate all hope of holding the contemplated meeting. Neither was it deemed advisable under such depressing circumstances to proclaim the event by a Royal salute, so that by a strange perversion of fate, Friday the 7th, which was to have been the day of days, passed off cold, bleak, and uneventful. It was not, therefore, until Saturday the 8th that the proceedings, so far as they had gone, were fully consummated. This was accomplished amidst the floating of bunting and the booming of guns, for upon this bright and sunny day it may be said that New Zealand became a British colony, and what some of us are vain enough to regard as the brightest jewel in Britain's Crown.[93]
FOOTNOTES
[51] The number and extent of the erasures in the original draft indicate that the greatest care was taken in its composition by those concerned.
[52] "Upon the fullest consideration my judgment inclines me strongly to recommend you, and through you, all the other members of the Mission, that your influence should be exercised amongst the chiefs attached to you, to induce them to make the desired surrender of sovereignty to Her Majesty."—Bishop Broughton's letter to Mr. Henry Williams.
[53] Mr. Busby's house was built of Australian hard wood, and though upwards of eighty years old is still standing in an excellent state of preservation. The property is now occupied by Mr. Theo. A. Izard, who recently unearthed on the site where the marquee was erected the iron shoe of a military tent-peg of the period, doubtless one that was used in connection with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.