Excerpt from the text reads: "The actual Sovereignty of New Zealand must be at present assumed to reside in the Chiefs, by whom it seems to be exercised within the limits of their respective territories. These rights I have reason to suppose are distinctly recognised by the British Government as to forbid the possibility of any design or attempts to set them aside or to assume any powers for the Crown without the free consent of the Chiefs. The course to be pursued I should therefore rather expect would be in the first instance to make application to them to surrender to Her Majesty their existing rights of Sovereignty, and to acknowledge her and her successors as the supreme and lawful rulers of the country."