Wiremu Tāmihana
v. 1805-1866 19th century
To stand up for your own people without hurrying into anger.
Who was Wiremu Tāmihana?
A rangatira of Ngāti Hauā, converted and baptised young at the Anglican mission, where he declared he would never fight again. In 1858 he crowned Pōtatau Te Wherowhero as the first Māori King (hence the name Kingmaker that stayed with him) and gave the movement a body of laws drawn from the Bible. Caught up in the Waikato war, he commanded one of the two Kingitanga divisions and fought himself only once, at Hairini, covering the evacuation of civilians; on 27 May 1865 he laid down his taiaha before General Carey, which the Pākehā called a surrender and he called te maungārongo, the covenant of peace.
In their own words
Whereas, I am a foreigner, this island is not near to you. I am only near to you in Christ.
God did not make night and day for you only. No; summer and winter are for all; rain and wind, food and life are for us all.
And now, my friends, leave this King to stand on his own place, and let it rest with our Maker whether he shall fall or stand. This is the end of this part of my words, and though they may be wrong yet they are openly declared.
The Word of God is your compass to guide you, the laws of God.