Murray Crawford: Did Mark Twain do his homework?

The inscription on t he memorial that so upset Mark Twain. Photos/Bevan Conley

It's true, Mark Twain criticised the "fanaticism and barbarism" wording on the Moutoa monument as reported in the Chronicle last week -- "Weeping woman gets makeover" (June 14) -- but did he get his facts right?

Mr Twain embarked on a worldwide speaking tour in 1895 to pay off creditors, following a series of failed financial investments. His itinerary included Whanganui, where the eagerly awaited author and raconteur held two meetings. He received a rapturous reception, but when asked for impressions about New Zealand, "showed a sensible objection to people hurrying through a place and venturing an opinion on the nature of the country and the characteristics of the people of which they know nothing." (Wanganui Herald, January 4, 1896).

Yet he failed to heed his own advice, making the common mistake of many a whistlestop tourist by drawing conclusions about matters he had had no time to assimilate. Or did he just have trouble deciphering his own notes?

Twain railed against "two curious monuments, one in honour of white men who 'fell in defence of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism'." He criticised the wording but referred to the Englishmen who lie beneath it.

The other he describes as "erected by white men to Maoris who fell fighting with the whites" -- all of which suggests he got his facts seriously muddled. He then proposed dynamite as the best fix.

That the Hauhau were patriots as stated by Twain is beyond question, but is the inscription "fanaticism and barbarism" really "archaic" and "of its time", as suggested in the Chronicle article? Or does it remain an apt description of the Hauhau (Pai Marire) movement, of which little is known today?

Pai Marire (Goodness and Peace), began as an anti-European movement by one Te Ua Haumene, whose mental stability was questioned by his own people.

Te Ua installed the Archangel Gabriel as patron saint, but he was replaced by Archangel Michael when the movement turned more violent (Gabriel may have been useful in explaining visions to virgins, but a more warlike approach was required).

New Zealand's oldest war memorial, the "Weeping Woman", which stands in Whanganui's Pakaitore/Moutoa Gardens is being refurbished and is to have a new interpretation panel.

White men's heads were mounted on poles and used as a means of invoking the war gods -- Captain Thomas Lloyd, Wanganui farmer James Hewett and others were victims -- and adherents were promised deliverance from pakeha bullets by raising their right hand and shouting "Hau!"

Surely these practices could be described as fanaticism, when all one needs do today to qualify is to quote Bible verses on a street corner.

And barbarism? The ovens had been prepared by the Hauhau for post-Moutoa Battle celebrations. Thankfully they remained empty but a later leader, Titokowaru, openly boasted of eating human flesh, as evidenced by his letter now held in the Alexander Turnbull Library. So the colonials had good reason to fear Hauhau "fanaticism and barbarism", but what of the other protagonists?

The estimated 700 Maori who attended the monument's unveiling and signalled their approval with an earth-shaking haka. They wanted no part of a movement which would take away their independence and return them to the Hauhaus' newly reintroduced practices -- practices they had long since renounced.

Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui's (Major Kemp's) memorial stands a stone's throw from the Moutoa monument. He also vehemently opposed the Hauhau and with good reason -- both personally and politically. During the 1868 battle of Moturoa he called out Titokowaru for a "one on one" but the wily leader, although not lacking in courage, wisely declined.

Last, but not least, the Hauhau themselves would surely have responded: "Of course, we were fanatics and barbarians. That was the whole point -- to drive the white man back to Merrie Olde Englande!"

But while Titokowaru's demise was eventually due to the oldest downfall known to man ("He wahine he whenua, ngaro ai te tangata"), he remained undefeated on the battlefield.

However, his hard-fought reputation is now in peril. Where colonial forces led by Kemp, Whitmore, von Tempsky and others failed, it seems the old warrior and his predecessors may soon be emasculated. Plans are afoot to install an "interpretation panel" on the monument.

Let us hope it accurately reflects events as they were and is not aimed merely at humouring our delicate modern-day sensitivities. It is one thing to correct historical inaccuracies and bias. It is quite another to rewrite history according to how we would prefer it to have been -- all from our present-day place of safety bought for us at such cost by our forbears, colonial and Maori.