It's not possible to write a comprehensive history here, but as you know I spent about a week during the holidays reading and so I can relate a few things I learned along the way, if it helps some of us to better understand a few basics about the intentions of the framers of Te Tiriti.
The key players in writing Te Titiri were James Stephen - an excellent public servant at the Colonial Office, who basically fought off those bent on making money and settling New Zealand - up until the point when it was impossible to win that fight. He wrote the instructions ultimately given to Hobson which were nearly unmodified by his superiors - Normanby etc.
The second major framer of Te Tiriti was James Busby who was the British Resident from about 1833 through until William Hobson arrived in late January 1840 to relieve him of his role.
The third man framer of Te Tiriti was Hobson himself.
The rest was a matter of translating what these three players wrote - but essentially it boiled down to James Stephen, James Busby and William Hobson supplying the components that were then translated into Te Reo Māori by Henry Williams and his son.
In a nutshell James Steven wrote the instructions, Busby the three articles and Hobson the Preamble which included phrases from the instructions etc.
As you already know James Busby was the pen behind the 1835 Declaration of Independence signed by the Confederation of Northern Chiefs.
Anyway - cutting a bloody long story short - which should really be a TV Show to educate us all - The instructions that James Stephen wrote on July 9 1839 were passed up the chain and after minor modifications were given to Hobson in a meeting attended by Normanby the Secretary of State - along with a couple of others ( possibly Stephen himself ).
The background to these instructions were about avoiding the terrible consequences seen elsewhere to indigenous peoples so this was mostly about restraining British Subjects and thereby protecting Maori.
A ship aptly named The Tory was set to sail in early May 1839 packed full of settlers and some organisations were bent on making money out of real estate ( The New Zealand Association later the NZ Company ). They were bent on purchasing huge areas of land and this forced the hand of the Colonial Office.
The colonisation was happening one way or another thanks to relentless pressure and politics - from the greedy property speculators and land sharks ( sounds familiar today ) - and these circumstances spurred the Colonial Office into action - with a mindset about the lesser of two evils...and there was deep reluctance to proceed...as Hobson read the words ...which showed in Normanby’s mind the Maori were Sovereign...and needed protection...but it was a bad thing to do...and the end result of an unjust intervention - would likely be injurious to them...
"...would be a most inadequate compensation for the injury which must be inflicted on this kingdom itself, by embarking in a measure essentially unjust, and but too certainly fraught with calamity to a numerous and inoffensive people, whose title to the soil and to the sovereignty of New Zealand is indisputable, and has been solemnly recognised by the British Government."
Hobson also read that the small population of about 2000 settlers at the time was made up of many bad apples...something he already knew ...
"...were many persons of bad or doubtful character - convicts who had fled from our penal settlements, or seamen who had deserted their ships; and that these people, unrestrained
by any law, and amenable to no tribunals, were alternatively the authors and the victims of every species of crime and outrage."
And Hobson read how unless something was done Maori might ultimately be wiped out ...by these bad apples...and some settlers might be harmed as well...
"...unless protected and restrained by necessary laws and institutions, they will repeat, unchecked, in that quarter of the globe, the same process of war and spoliation, under which uncivilised tribes have almost invariably disappeared as often as they have been brought into the immediate vicinity of emigrants from the nations of Christendom. To mitigate and, if possible, to avert these disasters, and to rescue the emigrants themselves from the evils of a lawless state of society, it has been resolved to adopt the most effective measures for establishing amongst them a settled form of civil government."
Okay so you get the picture.
That was basically the intention at the time from a few good apples like James Stephen ( surrounded by the bad apples who wanted to make money out of real estate ) to protect and I guess that is why today - the principle of active protection appears in the principles of Te Tiriti... among some of the others.
Keeping this long long story short ...means I have to leave out heaps ( which I am sure many will point out to me ) - but here are some things I learned - after Don Brash and Casey Costello had smeared William Hobson's name to me since 2016 when they set up Hobson's Pledge ...and in the end I changed my silly easily led mind about Hobson - cos he was not like them - and I wished I knew this stuff long ago. Like how dumb was I?
So here is a list of a few things I did not know ( correct me if you think I am wrong ) :
1. William Hobson was born in Waterford Ireland - he was one of eight children.
2. He joined the Royal Navy and spend many years at sea.
3. He was involved in the 1812 war against America.
4. He was part of the squadron who took Napolean to St Helens.
5. He was involved in the suppression of piracy in many places
6. His wife and friends called him "Pat" and he was well regarded by his peers. A handsome man.
7. In 1835 he left his wife and family to go on a mission on the HMS Rattlesnake - long time at sea etc.
8. The HMS Rattlesnake visited the Bay of Islands in May 1837.
9. At that time he spoke with Busby, the Missionaries and Settlers and made peace between a couple of feuding chiefs and attended a tangi.
10. Hobson visited the Thames region and noticed Maori were a bit afraid of the Man-Of-War ship he was sailing.
11. He took a couple of outlaws with him back to Sydney - and noted to Governor Gipps there - how the Maori treated Europeans very well and were very careful not to injure them.
12. It was the ruffians from his own country that needed to be dreaded and if these lawless settlers provoked Maori there would probably be deadly consequences.
13. He met with Normanby, Labouchere and possibly James Stephen on Saturday 25 May 1839 in London - and later in August where he received his instructions.
14. He was glad to get the job and expressed how he'd rather be in New Zealand than India where he could get three times the pay.
15. After questioning and confirming that he was not to use "the doctrine of discovery" regarding the South island but instead ask for consent - he departed on the HMS Druid from London on 24 August 1839 with his wife and three children and as he arrived in Sydney on 13 December 1839 his fourth child was born on board around 24th December.
16. After meeting Gipps the Governor and handing him various correspondence he departed Sydney bound for New Zealand on the HMS Herald on 18th January 1839 with a few helpers ( police, a clerk etc ) - as you know.
17. He arrived at the Bay of Islands on 29 January 1840 and Busby immediately went on board and heard he had lost his job - but he kinda knew that and Busby had been buying up land knowing this day would come lol.
18. The drafting and the initial signings took place in the next week. As mentioned Busby wrote the articles while Hobson wrote the preamble based on his instructions written by James Stephen.
19. Hobson attended signings on various dates in early February - 6 Feb, 10 Feb, 12 Feb and sailed on 21 February but got no further than Waitamata - where on 1 March he suffered a stroke and was partially paralysed with impaired speech.
20. That meant Hobson did not get to shape things the way things might have been - and he prematurely declared the whole of NZ had been signed up ( when it had not ) a few months later.
21. Hobson died in 1842.
22. He is buried in Grafton - and you can visit his grave - it is near that motorway turn off just at the end of Grafton Bridge and has a small fence around it.
That's enough for a Sunday morning Facebook post - but I hope that some of you may have found this interesting and for some of us - educational. Clearly there is much more to the story - but that's the stuff I carry in my head over coffee.
Hopefully more and more of us will pick up on our history and understand what really happened - while David Seymour tries to extinguish the protections in Te Tiriti and unlock resources for the greedy - just like they did when they caused all this.
Anyway just wanted to convey that to you this morning.
G News - Things I did not know about William Hobson
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