We have first to establish ourselves as the dominant power, and then to maintain justice, law., and order. The present war is a war of colonization. Whatever may have been the immediate or proximate cituse, this is what it essentially is, and in this point of view we maintain it to be a justifiable war. We care not who struck the first blow ; we are satisfied that it was suro to be struck by one party or the other. With the con duct of the war we have nothing now to do ; we rest satisfied in the statesman-like scheme which follows lip the military operations, by establishing a chain of mili tary settlements to secure the peace of the country. We wish now briefly to consider the two questions :—: — How are we to treat the enemy during the war 1 and how are we to treat him after the war ? In considering the first point, we are met at the outsefby the doubt whether we are to look upon the Maori us a rebel, or a belligerent. So far as the matter can be decided by the law of the country, theie is, we suppose, no further room for discussion. The Chief Justica of New Zea land has ruled that in the eye of the law every human being within the limit of these Islands is a subject of Queen Victoria, and in the decision of the Chief Justice we readily acquiesce. Yet it is unfor tunate when the legal view of an important matter is at variance with that which must be taken by those who wish to look at the subject fairly, and according to its intrinsic merits. We do not hesitate to assert that in truth and fairness the Maori must be considered not as a rebel, but a belligerent ; and that the prisoners taken by us are prisoners of war, and ought to be treated as such. In discussing this matter people are very apt to mix up things which have nothing to do with each other, and they often argue as if the natives are to be treated as rebels, because they have committed great barbari ties. 