It is time to set out what really happened at some critical moments on New Zealand's history.
From Hobson's brief from the Colonial Office, 14th August 1839: "The Queen ... disclaims ... to govern them ... unless the free intelligent consent of the natives, expressed according to their established usages, shall first be obtained."
At Waitangi on 5th February 1840 in his opening remarks, Hobson stated "You yourselves have often asked the King of England to extend his protection unto you. Her Majesty now offers you that protection in this treaty ... But as the law of England gives no civil powers to Her Majesty out of her domain, her efforts to do you good will be futile unless you consent. (Our emphasis)
The words of the chiefs who spoke against signing were:
Te Kemara, chief of Ngatikawa: "Health to the O Governor ... I shall never say 'Yes' to your staying. Were all to be on equality, then, perhaps, Te Kemara would say 'Yes; ' but for the Governor to be up and Te Kemara down ... low, small, a worm, a crawler -no, no, no.
Rewa, chief of Ngaitawake: "I will not say 'Yes' to the Governor's remaining. No, no, no; return. What! this land to become like Port Jackson."
Moka, chief of Patuheka: " Let the Governor return to his own country: let us remain as we were."
Kawiti, chief of Ngatihine: "I will not say 'Yes' to thy sitting here. What! to be fired at in our boats and canoes by night! What! to be fired at when quietly paddling our canoes by night! I, even I, Kawiti, must not paddle this way, nor paddle that way, because the Governor said 'No'".
Hakiro, who appeared to speak on behalf of Titore, deceased chief of Ngatinanenane, arose and said: "O Governor! I say no, no, no. ... We will not have a Governor!"
Tareha, chief of Ngatirehia: "thou, the Governor up high up, up, as this tall paddle". Here he held up a common canoe paddle and continued: "and I down, under, beneath! No, no, no. I will never say 'Yes, stay'".
Wai of Ngaitawake also opposed signing.
No others spoke against it.
It will be clear to any reasonable person that these chiefs understood clearly that by signing the treaty, all would become subordinate to the Governor, though some had excessive ideas of what his powers would be. Simply said: they knew that by signing they would cede sovereignty.
On the next day, 6th February, Te Kemara, Rewa, Moka, Hakiro and Tareha all signed the treaty. Kawiti signed later. As Te Kemara admitted afterwards, his speech had been all "mere show". Later before the land commissioners he stated that he had disposed of his lands in a fair sale.
Rewa. Moka, Hakiro and Tareha all lived close to French bishop Pompallier and had been told they would become slaves if they signed - the opposite of the truth but Hobson made it clear that this was untrue and that all religions would be tolerated.
On 6th, Marupo of Wanaurara and Ruhe of Ngatihineira both spoke against signing and then signed the Treaty, Marupo twice! Genuine opposition was virtually non-existent.
More was said than is related above of course. It can be "googled" easily by entering "Colenso - the Authentic and Genuine History of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi." While Colenso did not publish his account until 1890, it is a condensed version of his notes taken at the time, which he checked for accuracy with several of those present including Busby.
On 10th July 1860, Governor Gore Browne invited chiefs to attend a conference at Kohimarama to ascertain their opinion of the Taranaki rebels. Lasting for a month, it was the greatest assembly of chiefs which ever occurred, around two hundred attending in total. Minutes of the meeting were taken with much care in English and Maori and have been republished recently by Victoria University of Wellington. Again, they can be obtained by "googling" 'Victoria University Proceedings of the Kohimarama Conference Comprising Nos.13 to 18 of the "Maori Messenger"'.
With one or two very minor exceptions, the chiefs clearly affirmed their support of the Governor, approved of his actions and condemned the activities of the Taranaki rebels. Many declarations were made of their loyalty to the Queen, their sovereign, some Ngapuhi chiefs speaking thus:
Treaty veteran, Waka Nene:"I know no sovereign but the Queen, and I shall never know any other."
Te Taurau: I am from Ngapuhi ... there [is] but one name upon earth ... the Queen. Let us then rest under the [Queen's] Government.
Wi Te Tete:"let me have the last word! We have now become one people under the Queen."
"That this conference takes cognisance of the fact that several chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen’s sovereignty, and of the unions of the two races".When Anne Salmond stated her support for recent Ngapuhi spokesmen who claimed that they had never ceded sovereignty, I quoted these statements to her. She replied that the chiefs would not remember accurately what had been said twenty years ago. (Email to me, 24th August 2010) This is pure nonsense of course. The chiefs' memories were well-trained and would certainly know accurate accounts of Waitangi proceedings.
Then we have the testimony of Rev. Samuel Warren:
'I was present at the great meeting at Waitangi when the celebrated treaty was signed, and also at a meeting which took place subsequently on the same subject at Hokianga. There was a great deal of talk by the natives, principally on the subject of securing their proprietary right to the land, and their personal liberty. Everything else they were only too happy to yield to the Queen, as they said repeatedly, because they knew they could only be saved from the rule of other nations by sitting under the shadow of the Queen of England. In my hearing they frequently remarked, "Let us be one people. We had the gospel from England, let us have the law from England."
‘My impression at the time was that the natives perfectly understood that by signing the treaty they became British subjects, and though I lived amongst them more than fifteen years after the event, and often conversed with them on the subject, I never saw the slightest reason to change my opinion. The natives were at the time in mortal fear of the French, and justly thought they had done a pretty good stroke of business when they placed the British lion between themselves and the French eagle.'
While Warren was writing in 1863, he had, as he said, conversed with the tribesmen over more than fifteen years. It would be very prejudiced to doubt this assertion from Warren.
All reasonable people will see clearly that the foregoing evidence is reliable. The chiefs ceded sovereignty to the Queen completely and for ever when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi and they knew full well what they were doing.
In doing so, all Maoris, including the many thousand slaves of other Maoris whose conditions were abject, received the full rights of the people of England, a precious gift, and the rights of all the people of New Zealand to own private property were affirmed.
That is all which was agreed by the signatories to the Treaty and those who deny it today or claim that it said anything else (but for a sentence about land purchases which soon became a dead letter) are dishonouring the Treaty. The Waitangi Tribunal and today's Ngapuhi spokesmen are the greatest offenders.