The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-18 00:00:00

THERMOMETER.

This morning
This day at Two o'clock

Barometer-29.75.

Wind—S.-Nest; moderate, with cloudy weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

['His DAY. Morning, 3h. 40m.—Afternoon, 3h. 54m.
To-monatow.-Morning, 4h. 10m.—Afternoon, 4h. 25m.

c-ijjg

Zun,

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1863.

It was among the most noteable characteristics of
the late Sir R. PEEL that, whenever he was proved
to have been in error, as he certainly was occa-
sionally, he could at all times frankly and manfully
acknowledge as much himself. It was a generous
characteristic. It was a characteristic eminently
befitting a great and magnanimous statesman. It
is precisely one, however, that Lord PALMERS-
TON has never once evidenced throughout the
whole of his long career. No man in the House
is more rash, no one is more petulant, or
Occasionally even more spitefully perverse in
his way of scattering about him apparently
careless, but we are often almost compelled to be-
lieve wilfully perverse imputations. These impu-
tations, thrown out by him with an air of implicit
confidence, serve his purpose at the moment, raise a
laugh against some opponent, elicit a ringing cheer
or two from the serried ranks of his supporters. A
little time elapses—and these statements of the
Prime Minister of England are proved, to
absolute demonstration, to be utterly un-
founded in every individual particular—are
shown, with the distinctness of a syllogism,
to be made up, from beginning to end, of a tissue of
idle rumours, to be, from first to last, one elaborate
mass of misrepresentation. Evidence of its being
so, is adduced upon the highest authority—docu-
mentary evidence—evidence based upon the solemn
attestation of a crowd of perfectly reliable wit
nesses. Yet, when all this has been literally done,
and the noble lord is appealed to in the British
House of Commons, and is there besought to do
what any generous and mignanimous nature, we
might suppose, would be eager to do, under the
circumstances, namely, to express some passing re-
gret for having put forth so very flagrant a misre-
presentation—Lord PALMERSTON is prepared to do
just absolutely anything but that!
Acting as he has often done, before now,
most flagrantly in this way, he has never
yet acted so flagrantly after this disin-
genuous fashion as he has but just now done,
as he did only yesterday in the instance of the Pere
Claim It will be yet vividly within the recollec-
tion of these who are in any way given to note the
course of the proceedings in Parliament during the
session, that Lnrd PALMERSTON, some time back,
stated that the Pere CURCI had delivered a political
discourse, or reeler diatribe, in the share of a ser-
mon, which discourse,
or diatribe, has now been
most positively and distinctly proved never to have
been delivered at all. The ecclesiastic referred to
by Lord PALMERSTON, has himself formally written
a letter stating quite distinctly, most emphatically,
and without one particle of hesitation, that
he never did give utterance to anything
whatever of the kind imputed to him, in the British
House of Commons, by the Prime Minister of Eng-
land. And this deliberate contradiction, penned by
the hand of the Pere CURCI, is now corroborated by
the solemn attestation, reduced to writing, before a
public notary, and signed by those vouching for
the truth of every syllable contained in that official
document. It is signed by a whole cluster of wit-
nesses who had been present, and who had
heard the Pere CURCI on the occasion referred to !
Witnesses altogether no less than twenty-two
in number ! Witnesses comprising amongst
them Pr,-, la tetz, Princes, Dukes, and various

other noble personages, as the notary's
document has it : " rds Most Rev. Excellency Mon-
signor Accorde, Bishop of Anglona and Tursi,
his
Most Rev. Excellency Don Michael Alisia, Bishop
of Patti, the Prince of Bisegnorno, the Duke of
Regina, Cavaliere Naladi di Altavella, the Count of
Comaldoli, Baron Cimino Nolli, the Duke Riario
Sforza, the Prince of Chearamonte, the Prince of
Aguaviva, the Duke of Maddaloni, Count
Enruco Statella, Count Anthony Bianculli,
the Duke of Terra Conyiano, and the Duke of St.
Valentino." Yet, when absolutely proved thus, upon
the most highly authenticated and authenticating
evidence, to have been, in this matter, from beginning
to end, entirely in the wrong—what is Lord PAL -
MERSTON 'S disingenuous and most ungenerous
mode of evading anything at all approaching
even to the
faintest semblance of a repara-

tion ? Having, according to his wont upon
such peculiarly jocular subjects of discussion,
as a question bearing upon Religious Liberty in
Spain, raised a silly laugh or two from the more
frivolous of his hearers in the House of Commons
last evening, Lord PALMERSTON went on to say,
"I now come to Father CURCI." Remember, be did
so in answer to the hon. and learned baronet
the member for Dundalk, who had closed In
reference to this miserable misstatement abcut
Father CURCI, by saying, as gentlemen to gentle
men, " I now leave this matter in the hands of the
noble lord I " Responding to which appeal, thas
answers Lord PALMERSTON, in reference to the
Pere CURCI—" I am very sorry for him indeed."
Whereat—being an intensely facetious remark—
there was, as a matter of course, "Laughter." Lord
PALMERSTON,however,has,in this, only commenced.
The noble viscount goes on to say, " When I heard
that the hon. and learned gentleman has something
to say about him, I imagined that he had some letter
of denial from Father CURCI—[As the member for
Dundalk had, in point of fact,!]. I said
to myself, poor Father CIIRCI. He is one
of those who do good by stealth and blush to find
it fame." At which wholly inapposite
quotation, again, as at something wonderfully face-
tious, there was " laughter." " However," con-
tinued the noble lord, " the hon. and learned gen-
tleman has brought forward a great deal of other
testimony. Well, it is testimony against testimony.
[Against What testimony ?] The hon. and learned
member asks me whence I derived my information.
I told him at the time that I had read a letter in a
newspaper, professing to give that account. I told
him that I could not answer for it, but I said if
he had any doubts about it if he might have an
opportunity of ascertaining from Father Cußci him-
self whether any such transaction had taken place."
Which had actually been done, and with what result
the House had just then learnt ! Instead of refer-
ring to anything of all which, however, Lord
PALMERSTON, encouraged by the laughter and
eliciting more of it as he proceeds with his
generous waggaries, exclaims, " Why, Sir, I have
,t letter too!" (Laughter.) It is dated from
Italy"—as Lord DUNDREARY remarks on read-
lug " America" at the top of his letter from
Brother SAM, "I am glad he gives his address !'—
So might Lord PALMERSTON congratulate himselt
upon the precision of his correspondent ! The letter,
remember, is dated "Italy." He won't say whether
it comes from Turin. And when the question is
asked of him a second time, his elaguers in the
House come to his aid with a cry of
" Order!" Equally reticent is the noble lord
as to the person from whom it comes. It comes
from "Italy," and it is distinctly anonymous !
This, in opposition to the Pere CURCI'S own posi-
tive and distinct denial of having spoken as
Lord PALMERSTON had described him to have done
—and in opposition alSo to the solemn asseveration
of corroborative evidence formally written down
and signed before a notary-public by Prelates, and
Princes, and Dukes, and other illustrious per-
sonages. Ail that even Lord PALMERSTON can say
in support of his anonymous letter " from Italy"
—after reading passages from it—after uttering
in regard to his former misstatements no one single
word of regret or apology—all that even Lord
PALMERSTON can say in support of his anony-
mous letter " from Italy" is, that "it may
be taken for what it is worth !" Qaiet but crush-
ing is the retort immediately thereupon uttered by
Sir GEORGE BOWYER, " Yee, we may take it for
what an anonymous letter is worth l"—The hon.
and learned baronet eliciting in his turn, for once,
by those few and simple words, mingled plaudits of
Hear, Hear, and Laughter.

If England is content to buy peace and tranquillity
at home, at the price of non-intervention in quarrels
which nearly concern the welfare of her industrial
community, it is pretty clear that occupation for her
naval and military forces will shortly be found in
the distant ports of the globe. Already has the
British Government entered into a sort of compact
with the Chinese authorities to aid in suppressing
a rebellion, or rather a civil war. We are on the
verge of hostilities with Japan,
keep up the balance, and now, just to
alance, fresh misunderstandings with
the natives of New Zealand will in all probability
end in a protracted struggle, and much bloodshed.
It will ba remembered, perhaps, by some of our
readers that at the conclusion of the last war a
piece of land situated a few miles south of New
Plymouth, known as " Taterairnaka Block," was
left in possession of the natives. It had previously
been occupied by a settlement of Europeans, who
were compelled on the outbreak of hostilities to take
refuge with their families in the town. The natives
occupied the ground, and plundered and destroyed
the houses of the settlers. It is evident that at the
termination of the war this ground should have been
reoccupied by the English authorities. There was
no legal difficulty or dispute about the land, as in
the case of the Waitara ; the natives them-
selves could make no objection to our ori-
ginal possession of it, but they have claimed
since the war the right to retain it as their cap-
ture. This should never have been allowed ; as a
precedent it was dangerous, and put us on an en-
tirely wrong footing, while with regard to the
dislodged settlers it was manifestly cruel and unjust.
Since that time this unfortunate peopl4 have been
in a state of great distress. Deprived of their
have been eeaargneirnlyg
fora
Governor to restore their rights.
living
property,a ur o ad ltahbeoyu r
the
scantyhom es
until last spring that Sir
latviwsiats frnoomt,
however,
GEORGE GREY
was able to proceed to Taranaki.
The General Assembly having voted £20,000 for
the reinstatement of
Taranaki, left
This task Sirft it to be effected
as the Governor thought best.
GEORGE GREY accomplished
it
and firmness. He paid a privatewvhisgitretaot sagacity
tnewai
.
katoes—a powerful tribe of the
district—to secure
their non-intervention, and then proceeded with a
strong military force to take possession of the land
len the spot submitted quietly, and me
as the rightful property of Europeans. Thule
bled
diviatel
great numbers unarmed to welcome his Ex-
cellency. Unhappily this promising state of
things did not last, and it is tip be re-
gretted that the Governor did not carry his
arrangements a little further, and provide agairst
what might have been foreseen to be a fruitful
source of contention. A strip of land, the property
of the natives, divides Tatarairnaka Block from New
Plymouth, and through this no European is allowed
to pass. It is greatly to be lamented that during
the last war, after the natives had taken possession
of the European land, they were not dislodged
from it, and the intervening strip of ground might
have been occupied at the same time. Or, in
the present state of things, it is a pity that the Go-
vernment have not attempted to purchase the land
from the natives, as in the existing condition of
affairs nothing but trouble will result from the con-
juncture. The road to New Plymouth needed re-
pair, party repairing it required to take
some stones the
sferom the bed of a small rivulet running
through the native territory. This was imme-
diately taken as a great offence, and
tt h he road
e attitupdaertoyf
the Maories was so threatening that
was withdrawn. But all pr: cautions and