11-02-2024, 03:37 PM
A treaty is by its nature a partnership. In the 1840s the Crown were the less powerful partner, terrified of inroads and advances being made to Maori by other parties, foreign interests. Those with royal influence were investing heavily in colonisation schemes, they had the ear of the Crown and if you do your homework - rather than giving me assignments, you would soon discover the moral and ethical standing of those players was anything but upright. They had one motivation and only one, the accumulation of personal wealth. (Some of the scams they were running would make 21st C conmen blush).
The people they were treating with had other motivations in addition to that same greed. They weren't fools. They were sophisticated in the ways of trade and negotiation, and to even consider they would cede sovereignty is to seriously underestimate their political cunning.
But then, people still do that. A lot.
The people they were treating with had other motivations in addition to that same greed. They weren't fools. They were sophisticated in the ways of trade and negotiation, and to even consider they would cede sovereignty is to seriously underestimate their political cunning.
But then, people still do that. A lot.