there were no such thing as what is commonly called a government in existence. But in the mind of the New Zealander these simple notions of right and wrong have been warped, and, as it were, suffocated, by a mul titude of unnatural and monstrous inventions, which have grown up along with them from his very birth. How misapplied are the epithets, natural and artificial, when employed, as they often are, to characterise the savage and civilized state! It is the former, in truth, which is by far the most artificial; and much of civilization consists in the abolition of the numerous devices by which it has falsified and perverted the natural dispositions of the human heart and understanding, and in the reforma tion of society upon principles more accordant with their unsophisticated dictates. Probably the only case in which the New Zealander looks upon theft as a crime is when it is accompanied by a breach of hospitality, or is committed upon those who have, in the cus tomary and understood manner, entrusted themselves to his friendship and honour. In any other circumstances, he will scarcely hold himself disgraced by any act of depredation which he can contrive to accomplish without detection; however much the fear of not escaping with impunity may often deter him from making the attempt. Then, as for the estimation in which the crime is politically held, this, we need not doubt, will be