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'Nā te Atua i hanga tēnei whenua mō mātou. E kore e taea te tapatapahi; mehemea he tohorā, kua tapatapahia. Hoki atu koutou ki tō koutou nei whenua, ki te whenua i hangaia mai e te Atua mō koutou. Nā te Atua tēnei mō mātou, ehara mā te tangata tauhou, ehara mā tauiwi hei rahurahu tō mātou whenua tapu.' Wheke tonu atu a Kerei.
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During his convalescence Heke continued his fight by means of the written word, sending letters to Robert FitzRoy, George Grey, and Henry Williams and other missionaries. He told FitzRoy that his fight was not against Europeans. He also petitioned for peace. FitzRoy made a demand for land as compensation, which Heke rejected. After the dismissal of FitzRoy in late September, a harder line was taken by his successor, Grey. Heke did not take as conciliatory a tone with Grey, but he made the same demands for Maori rights to be respected. 'God made this country for us. It cannot be sliced; if it were a whale it might be sliced. Do you return to your own country, which was made by God for you. God made this land for us; it is not for any stranger or foreign nation to meddle with this sacred country.' Grey found this letter highly offensive. Kawiti meanwhile had gone ahead with the construction of a new fortified pa at Ruapekapeka. He, too, had sought reconciliation without acknowledging blame. But war broke out again, this time with a larger, better organised British force assisted by Nene. Heke was absent from the first part of this last battle in the north; he arrived with his force of 60 men on 10 January 1846. He had, however, been there before the fighting broke out, and had kept in close contact with Kawiti.
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