The Sun.
London, England, 1831-07-21 00:00:00

as, we doubt not, it will be sincere, and as determined
and effectual, as it is just, and most imperiously de-
manded by the state of Europe.—Morn. Advertiser.
The Committee proceeded last night with the
first clause of the Reform Bill, and considerable
havoc was effected among the proscribed boroughs,
no less than twelve having been annihilated.
It was, to adopt the expression of Sir C. We-
therell, a grind Radical feast. The conduct of
the Opposition on this occasion sufficiently
refutes the calumnious charge that they are
actuated by the sole desire of causing delay. They
maintained the right of Appleby anti Great Bedwin
to be placed in schedule B, because those boroughs
were entitled to that privilege, according to the prin.
ciple of the Bill itself. But where, as in the nu-
merous instances of last night, no such case could
be made out, they abstained from vexatious opposi-
tion, and offered only a few passing remarks on the
disfranchised boroughs.—Morning Post.

We have perused a pamphlet in the shape of a
letter to Earl Grey, written in December last by Mr.
Jonathan Sisson, of Dublin, stating the causes of
the state of public feeling in Ireland on the subject
of a repeal of the Union with Great Britain, and
of her present distresses, and recommending the
appointment of a Board of Commissioners to sit in
Dublin, to be composed of persons of practical
experience in its trade, manufactures, agriculture,
fisheries, and all public works and internal improve-
ments, to receive communications from all persons in
Ireland relative to those objects, and to be the organ
of communication through the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland to the British Government on these im-
portant subjects, for the purpose of affording such
relief and assistance as Parliament may think de-
sirable, and which plan it states, if brought into
operation, would lighten very much Irish affairs in
the House of Commons, as well as with the Irish
Government, which, from its constant changes, can-
not be in the possession of that local knowledge so
necessary in the members of its Administration for
the welfare of that country. We understand that a
petition to this effect is now here from the Corpora-
tion and citizens of Dublin, brought before the
Quarter Assembly by Mr. Sisson, and agreed to una-
nimously ; and which has also the cordial and unqua-
lified assent and approbation of all classes of persons
in Ireland, as a measure which must lead to the
happiest effects in that country. Much, however, de-
pends on the Commissioners so named being co►n-
posed of persons properly suited for the purpose, and
acquainted by experience with the commerce, manu-
factures, agriculture, fisheries, roads, bogs, waste
lands, and other local interests and concerns of Ire-
land—being men of patriotism and talent, who can
devote their entire time to such important subjects,
and which would under such Board be free from the
evils and abuses which existed in former Boards.
The letter referred to recommends the Board to be
unpaid, and extended. We hope the Irish Mem-
bers, without distinction, will interest themselves on
a subject so important to the tranquillity and wel-
fare of Ireland. We hear the petition will be pre-
sented this evening. His Majesty's Government
have, it appears, brought in a Bill for lending money
on roads and public works in Ireland, but quite too
confined to reach the great and useful objects con-
tained in the plan referred to, or to satisfy the people
of Ireland.—Morning Post.

HORRIBLE CANNIBALISM IN NEW

ZEALAND.

[The following account of the present state of so-
ciety in this interesting portion of the world will be '
read with astonishment by those who have been for
y rare contributing large sums for the support of
Missionaries to preach the Gospel and extend the
blessings of civilization throughout the Nandi of
the South Sea. Unless the inhabitants are in-
curably vicious and intractable—and the accounts
of our voyages give us no reason to believe that they
are so—those who have been sent for their im-
provement and instruction must have lamentably
neglected their duty. The events we record are
from the Tasmanian. The editor promises further
information, which may probably throw light on this
question.]
(From the Tasmanian, Jan. 28, 1931.)
New Zealand is composed of two large islands,
extending together from let. 34. to 48 South, and
separated by a passage from fifteen to twenty miles
wide, called Cook's Strait. The southern of these
islands appears to be in many parts mountainous and
barren. The Northern Island is much more favoured
by nature. The soil is rich, and every valley pos-
sesses a rivulet of excellent water. The climate
Dearly resembles that of our own. The winters are
much milder than those in Britain ; the summers not
hotter; and it is found that every kind of European
grain, plants, and fruits, flourish with the very utmost
luxuriance. As may be imagined in such a country,
the people are a remarkably fine race; the men,
speaking generally, perhaps the very finest on the
face of the earth, from six to seven feet high, their
forms of the justest symmetry. The women equally
well formed, and of very beautiful features. These
are the personal characters of the whole people of
both islands, which are very thickly inhabited; and
as the mutest► progress of population might have
been productive of considerable evil, a Malthusian
attention thereto has most kindly furnished them
with the means of checking it, by the happy intro-
duction of the instruments of European warfare.
So also an insatiable desire for rum and tobacco.--
These two refinements, unknown to these savage
heathens, until their commerce with European
Christians, have also tended very materially towards
this most desirable end. That part of these islands,
where the events we are about to relate took place,
is at the southern extremity of the northern island, a
beautiful country, possessing important rivers and
harbours, and every other natural advantage. The
natives there congregate in numbers of from 800 to
1,000, under the authority of some influential in-
dividual, who possesses, we apprehend, a sort of le-
gitimate hereditary chieftainship. At that part of
the northern island to which we now refer, there are
two of these sovereigns, the one is named Hecht),
the other Robtilloh. It does not appear that these
names are patronymic ; they appear to be rather
titulatory, inasmuch as the article " The" is always
prefixed to them. Thus they are designated as
" The Hecho," or " The Ilobullob." As is the
case in all other parts of the world, Christian even
more so than heathen, the people are engaged in
frequent wars; upon these occasions, all prisoner!
who are taken,become not only slaves to the captors,
but their lives are only held by the uncertain tenure
of the pleasure of the owner. The chief, Hecho,
has 600 or 700 of these unfortunate people. Most
of the chieftains of both islands have paid more than
one visit to Sydney, generally in some one of the
Missionary vessels, who are occupied in an exten-
sive, and it cannot but be a highly profitable trade,
conveying from these and the other islands the
Pacific, cargoes of pork, cocoa-nut oil, flax, and
other articles. When a ship anchors in any of
the bays, the chief, attended by a eurnerous
body of his sect, goes on board immediately. His
first operation is to examine the strength of the vessel,
as respects her means of offence or defence, arid this
not more with a view of petty thieving, which is con-
sidered a matter-of-course practice, but to the capture
of the vessel herself, if such appears to be practi-
cable. They appear to possess some of the worst
propensities with which the human race is afflicted.
For example, ae respects their food, they consider
human flesh to be the sweetest and !post delicious of
all possible food. So regardless are they of human
life, that they are in the habit continually of coolly
murdering their slaves for the slightest fault. Cap-
tain Briggs was witness to an instance of a young
female being put to death, merely for refusing to
perform some menial service required of her, and he
himself saved the lives of two young men (who had
run away from their owners for fear of being mur-
dered for some trifling offence), by purchasing them
fora few pounds of gunpowder arid some fish-hooks.
It is not easy to explain the peculiarly horrible pas-
sions and habits of this finely-formed race of people
by general description. Perhaps the best method

will be to relate some of the circumstances which
attended Captain Briggs' late-visit, from which the
redder will be able to form a tolerably accurate judg-
ment of the state of things in general.
Hecht), the chief of whom we have spoken, is a
remarkably fino young man of about 25 years old.
He is six feet four or five inches in height, and per-
fectly well proportioned. He is the son of a chief
who is spoken of as " The Payie," who was taken
to England some years ago, where having received
great attention, upon his return he declared himself
the enemy of all those of his country who should
attack any Briglish vessel, or injure any English-
man, of course beyond the mere practice of thiev-
ing, which, as we have said, is the vocation of these
islanders. Some few years ago, a chieftain of the
south-eastern coast had killed and eaten Captain
Downie and the crew of the brig Samuel, a
vessel which had been trading there, bartering
muskets, powder, and balls, for flax and other pro-
duce; but being either over-confidential or unguarded,
his vessel was captured and himself and crew eaten.
The same people it was, who had succeeded in tak-
ing a midshipman and a boat'e crew of his Majesty's
ship Warspite, commanded by the late Sir J. Bris•
bane, who were killed and afterwards eaten, as mere
matter of course. To avenge these atrocities thus
committed upon Payie's friends arid allies, the Eng-
lish, that chief and the Robulloh, went in 1822, with
a strong body of their people, and taking the former
by surprise, they killed and ate all they could find,
destroying all before them of the unfortunate clan,
who, in their turn, furnished food for their cannibal
appetite. Glutted with blood, but still hankering
for more, they landed upon Banks's Island with the
same horrible intent. But there, they met with a
check. The chieftain who was called the Marinewie,
was prepared for their reception ; a battle ensued,
in which the invaders were defeated, with the loss
of the Payie, who being taken by the Marinewie,
was by that chief killed and eaten, as was also an
Englishman named Smith, who had joined the allies
in their predatory excursion. The Robulloh escaped
and on his return to his native place, united with
the Hecho, the son of the Payie, who had succeeded
to his eaten father's throne, in the determination
to avenge the former disaster. Thus matters stood
until about the middle of last year, when Captain
Briggs, in the Dragon, arrived at the territory of
these allied Chieftains. Their first attempt was to
endeavour to induce him to accompany them in an
expedition which they had been for some time
preparing, against the Marinewie, promising him
that if he would join them therein, they would
furnish his ship with a full cargo of flax in return.
They were by no means unskilful diplomatists.—
They urged that the Payie had been in England, and
was the friend and avenger of the English—that the
-Marinewie, who had killed and eaten him, had also
killed and eaten more white men than any other New
Zealander whatever, and they promised " subsidit s"
in return for the essential service which they well
knew they should receive from a commander and
a vessel such as Captain Briggs and the Dragon.
They did not however succeed. Captain Briggs
peremptorily refused to be associated in the horrid
enterprize. Not so, however, the Commander of
another British vessel, which happened just then to
arrive upon a trading voyage. She was a fine brig
of 300 tons, whose name, and that of the Com•
mender, we forbear for the present !o insert. The
two Chiefs agreed with this person, that his ship
should convey them and their people to the country
of the Marinewie, where the war was to be carried
on to utter extermination. On the 29th October,
of the last year, the expedition sailed : there was a
fine fleet of war canoes, and the two Chief?, with
about one hundred picked warriors, were on board
the English brig. Captain Briggs remained at the
anchorage, procuring, by the usual means of barter,
a cargo for his vessel. On the 11th November the
expedition returned, having been entirely successful.
The Marinewie had been taken by surprise, his
whole people destroyed, except such as fled into the
interior beyond the reach of pursuit, and himself, his
wife, and his daughter, a beautiful girl of 15,
taken prisoners. The Captain of the English
vessel stated, that on their arrival at Banks's
'Labour, the Payie arid the Robulloh had
caused all their people to conceal themselves below;
that the Marinewie sent immediately on board to
negociate for the trading, which he, of course, sup-
posed was the object of the Englishman's arrival.—
He demanded two double guns, by way of tribute
to himself, for permission to open the trade. This
was granted. The trade commenced, and the
Marinewie not suspecting the fate which awaited
him, confiding fully on the Englishman's honour,
went himself on board to visit him. After he had
been seated inn the cabin a short time, the Hecho
and the Robulloh jumped upon him, from their
place of concealment, as did their people upon
all those who had attended him on board,
and seizing him by the hair, explained to him his
situation. The scene which followed is too dread-
ful to describe. Under the colour of night, the Ita•
bulloh, the Payie, and their men, landed from the
ship, and having succeeded in capturing the wife
and daughter of the Marinewie, they sent them on
board, and a work of death ensued, utterly unspeak-
able or indescribable, for the horrible cruelties which
were perpetrated. The whole population of the
place who did not escape were killed, except about
fifty reserved to be taken back to be sacrificed at the
bloody feast 31 triumph which awaited their return.
At day-light in the morning, the victors were seen
actively employed in cutting up arid preparing for
the steam-kettle the dead bodies of the slaughtered
wt.
hich
they
ycrwoivt
noefs
steldi e
ayse sbseeyl
beyond
l. The whole of the day was
sevcvlire. ds
ttili(cerfl lgit oh rderroernasidgfu
‘iv'
ry
occupiaridboeddiesiitiosabletiecogt,ve and p
conveyed
baacekki.ng
Ai in bmoanskgsettst,h treads
vic-
tims was a fine young woman, near her accouche-
ment, who was cut open, her unborn infant ex-
tracted, her head and part of her body salted, and
the remainder, in the presence of the Captain, offi-
cers, and the whole crew of the British ship, given
to the pigs !
On the llth of November, in the morning, the
brig having arrived with her cargo of human flesh,
living arid dead, at about eleven, A.M., preparations
were made for the triumphal landing. And here a
peculiar feature in the character of the New Zea-
landers was exhibited. Ferocious as appears to be
the male character, that of the female appears in
strong contrast thereto. Not a single woman was
on the beach to receive either husband or lover (for
such there are even in the moat savage state, and the
New Zealanders appear to be eminently susceptible
of the tender passion), riot a child to welcome its pa-
rent, not a father to welcome his son. All was silence,
and, except as respected thecannibal warrior s, and the
mutilated remains of their slaughtered victims,solitude.
The prisoners were landed and ranged, seated on the
beach ; their conquerors having brought on shore in
baskets the salted bodies of the victims of their fero-
city. Each basket is of sufficient size to hold a hu-
man body cut up into pieces ; of these there were,
according to Captain Briggs' calculation, about one
hundred. The war dance then commenced. It is
the most frightful method of rejoicing, any idea of
which the human mind can convey to itself. The
warriors entirely naked—their long black hair, al-
though matted with }Ronan gore, yet flowing par-
tially in the wind—in the left hand a human head--
in the right a bayonetted musket, held by the middle
of the barrel. Thus, with a song, the terrible ex-
pression of which can only he imagined by being
heard,flgtldeiriredi
111)
gtt
oiynr
gtduadrneec4el
t Bo undert
t they
.rmdwoi
most
et tnhcoohtield.
iceible tti
formni
o it'
s
--every now and again approaching them with ges-
tures None of them were killed. All were apportioned
among the conquering warriors as slaves, one old
men and a little boy excepted, who were sentenced
to be sacrificed to their demon of vengeance. The
feast was then prepared, at which these too victims
were to be killed and eaten. It consisted of about
one hundred baskets of potatoes, and a sort of green
vegetable of delicious flavour, and equal quantities
of whale blubber and human flesh. Every thing'
bring arranged, the poor old man was brought forth