being elected chief instead of his elder brother. Together with a strong
desire for knowledge there was a certain _dourness_ in Tamihana's
nature, and when he applied for admission to St. John's College, a
question is said to have arisen about smoking. The rules of the
institution prohibited this pleasant vice, and Tamihana would not give
up his pipe. Strange to think of the tremendous consequences which
flowed from that simple refusal!

Thrown back upon himself, and seeing no teacher but Archdeacon Brown,
who visited Matamata from time to time, the young thinker formed his
ideals alone. Experience soon taught him the necessity of _law_.
Loose-living and dishonest pakehas brought disease and trouble among his
people, while the old authority of the chiefs was weakening day by day.
The Old Testament offered laws which seemed framed for his own case,
and, in studying his Bible, Tamihana was struck with the important part
which was played by the _nationalism_ of the Chosen People. One verse in
particular took his attention: "Thou shalt in any wise set him king over
thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose; one from among thy brethren
shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee,
which is not thy brother."--(Deut. xvii. 15.) Here, surely, was divine
sanction for the principle of nationalism and of kingship: might not the
cure for the woes of his race be found in a unified State under an
elected king of their own blood?

The ideas which were thus working in the young chief's mind were forced
into active expression by the treatment he received from those in
authority. Early in 1857 he visited Auckland, with the object of making
an appeal to the governor for good government among the Maoris. Instead
of a welcome, he received a snub from the high officials, who scornfully
advised him to go home and help himself. This rebuff drove him to
action. Sending messages far and wide, he convened a great assembly of
the inland tribes at Rangiaohia in the Waikato. The concourse afterwards
moved to Ihumatao on the shores of the Manukau, and within a few miles
of Auckland, where the conference was at that very time drafting the
church constitution. The one gathering consisted of highly educated
clergy and lawyers, the other of unlettered or self-taught Maoris; but
the object of both gatherings was the same, and so were the principles
which both professed. A Christian law was the object of them both.
Tamihana wou