The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON. MONDAY, APRIL 20, 1840.

her rights. The one hundred men who are to be
sent to Captain Hoßsox must be soon followed by
another hundred, and by a ship to cruise round the
island, and not allow persons to make settlements
there but under the authority of our Sovereign. Now
considering the immense colonial possessions of
Great Britain, the great expense of the public force,
the discontent caused by the taxes, the difficulty
even now of getting reliefs for our colonial garrisons,
so that the soldiers are two-thirds of their time
abroad,—considering the vast wastes which are open
to our emigrants in North America, at the Cape of
Good Hope, in New South Wales, we must con-
clude that no ambition could well be more mis-
chievous for England than a claim of sovereignty
over the whole of New Zealand. If our capitalists
and merchants can make money by going thither let
them go, but in removing, and no longer contri-
buting to bear the burthens of the mother country,
they have, as it seems to us, no right to demand the
protection of our fleets and armies, however friendly
and brotherly they ought ever to find the nation dis-
posed towards them.

Is the reader, however, aware on what the
claim of sovereignty is founded ? Our people
are said to have been the first to discover New
Zealand. But if that gives us a claim of sovereignty
over the land, it might give the Portuguese or the
Dutch, or whoever discovered India and China,
by going round the Cape of Good Hope, a
right of sovereignty over those immense and well-
peopled countries, which is as absurd in theory as
it is impossible to be carried into operation. Of
countries totally uninhabited the claim may be good.
It may be a useful rule to preserve the peace amongst
rival claimants, but it is no more applicable to countries
already inhabited, though by men in a low stage of
civilisation, than it is to China and Hindostan.

After the discovery of America, and after the
PO PE, from his assumed power—which we now
deny in toto—of being GoD's' Vicar on earth,
had given to the Spaniards all the lands they might
discover, and when there was amongst the European
nations a great thirst to find new countries, and to
take possession of them, regardless of all the rights
of their inhabitants, the rule that the sovereignty of
any country belonged to that Crown whose
subjects first discovered it, urged by one
State against other contending nations of Eu-
rope, was a good rule, but it had no force
against the inhabitants of those countries who
knew nothing about it, and never signed an act of
submission to the strange navigator who first visited
their shores. To found now a claim of sovereignty
for England over all New Zealand on the fact that
some part of its coast was first seen by Captain
Cool(' seems to us, when England's sovereignty
extends over every quarter of the habitable globe,
quite preposterous.

But a distinction is made ; and the example of
the United States is quoted to justify it. She as-
sumes a right of sovereignty over the hunting lands
of the Indians, and treats them as her subjects,
moving them from one territory to another, and
disposing of their lands as suits her European
habits and her civilization. Now this part of the
conduct of the United States is in general con-
demned in Europe, and no more to be followed as
an example by us than her retention of the negroes
in slavery. Moreover, she has an excuse for
her conduct which we have not. Those
Indians are bordering on or intermingled
with her subjects of European descent. The
habits of the two are incompatible. She is
constrained, for the sake of peace within
her territory, and on behalf of the Indians them-
selves, to assume a sovereignty over them, and
sometimes to displace a, whole tribe. England is
under no such necessity. Whatever nimy-belhe,case,
in New South Wales, she' has
in New Zealand, nOr"dcies -she need any, which can
justify her in following the example of the United
States in assuming a right of sovereignty over all the
aboriginal tribes, and all the territory of New Zea-
land. Should convicts escape thither, and establish
themselves, that would only so much the sooner
compel our Government to put an end to that
scandal to civilization—a penal colony at the anti-
podes. It would hasten the completion of the
wishes of the Archbishop of DUBLIN, and
promote the success of Sir WILLIAM MOLES-
WORTH'S exertions.

The growling journal, which is the peculiar
organ of the jobbers, accuses the Ministers of
having only published documents to make out a
case for themselves. What they may have kept
back we are ignorant of ; but they have given to
the world the luminous productions of Mr. G. F.
YOUNG, Mr. S. MOTTE, and Mr. SOMES. We
should have supposed that those documents would
have sufficed to make out the case of the op-
ponents of the Government, and we were sur-
prised, after reading their abuse of the blue book,
to find it so much composed of their own produc-
tions. The whole subject, however, is, we are
told, to be brought before Parliament after the
recess, and we shall wait for that exposure before
finally condemning or exculpating the Ministers.
We do not always credit those who are most eager
to make accusations.

If Lord STANLEY'S Bill to regulate registration
in Ireland were honestly intended, as the Morning
Post avers, " to introduce accuracy and truth into
arrangements which have hitherto been notoriously
full of inaccuracy and of falsehood," it should
have no opposition from us. But that is not
Lord STANLEY'S intention ; if it was, he would
have set about correcting the whole system. The
Irish justly complain of the whole being a lie and a
fraud. It is called a system of representation of
the people—it includes only one-twentieth of them.
All the subordinate frauds and lies of which Lord
STANLEY and the Tories complain grow from
attempts partially to correct the fraud which
the Legislature has decreed. The falsifica;
tion of the registers in Ireland, of which
such loud complaints are made, is like smug-
gling when duties are exorbitant—it par-
tially corrects,
.though it cannot remove, one of the
iniquities of the law-maker. Lord STANLEY'S
Bill, like a measure to increase duties on an ar-
ticle already smuggled, goes to limit the franchise,
and to beget a still stronger temptation, than at
present, to commit fraud. If lie were wise, he
would first extend the franchise, and then cor-
rect the registration. To explain ourselves by
the analogy we have adopted, he ought first
to lower the duties, and then he would suc-
ceed in suppressing smuggling. Legislative
ingenuity, never yet was a match for private inter-
est ; and, till Lord STANLEY gets rid of the lie
which is the hasis of the whole mis-called system
of representation, it is idle to attack the frauds that
grow from it. If lie succeed in passing the Bill,
he may possibly get rid of a few score fictitious
as complete a
rviogtienrst,oasllhaorfe
t 1 Oh I
naturally
in
as Lord STA N-
LEY himself ; but he will convulse the empire.
We sometimes think the Bishop of EXETER little
better than a madman, for he would peril the State
that the Clergy may possess a few patches of barren
land ; but Lord STANLEY matches the Bishop.
Burning down a house to roast an egg is a feeble
type of the folly that would risk the tranquillity and
union of the empire to prevent an Irishman more or
less from voting for a representative.

The recent elevation of Lady CECILIA Us"
DErtwooD to the highest rank of the British

Peerage, has unavoidably recalled attention to the
elaims of Sir AuGusTus D'EsTE and his sister, 1
the offspring of the Duke of SUSSEX'S forir.er
marriage with Lady AUGUSTA MURRAY. Claims
more righteous, it is our deliberate conviction, were
never advanced, and as there appears no indication
that the fair opportunity for recognising them which
has now occurred will be embraced, we deem it
not only an act of justice towards the claimants,
but a duty to the public, to put it in possession of
that evidence which, while it has appeared conclu-
sive to high legal authorities, may also enable all
persons of common understanding and right feeling
to attain a full knowledge of the merits of the case.
This is the more necessary, as there is some clan-
ger that the rights of Sir AUGUSTUS D'ESTE
may be prejudiced in public opinion by being
made a handle for party purposes. We can-
not be suspected of factious motives in agitating
the question. We would, for obvious reasons, far
more willingly have avoided any reference to it, if
' we could have done so without a dereliction of those
obligations which, as Journalists, we owe to the
public. There are involved in the case considera-
tions too weighty to be put in the scale with party
partialities or party interests. The time may come
when the right of succession to the throne of these
realms may depend upon the validity or invalidity
of the Duke of SUSSEX'S first marriage. The time
cannot, in the course of nature, be far distant when
the son of his Royal Highness will, in all human
probability, have to claim the honours derived from
doubtful relation. The stands
in a
his birth publicly before the Peers of Great Britain.
To then e
near,
throne
by
yf
no
nHanoverleab s l
Sr
u AUGUSTUS
status of such a person is a matter of public con-
cernment, and if it appear that great and glaring
injustice has been done to him—that notwith-
standing his having uniformly conducted him-
self in a manner every way worthy of his high
lineage, he has not only been the object of neglect,
but has experienced the most determined opposition
in his meritorious endeavours to vindicate the cha-
ff ratter of his Noble mother, and to assert his own
birthright---the public will see that the honour
of the Crown is at stake—that their interests
are concerned, and that their protection is
due. The document which appears in another
part of The Sun is the first of a series
which we intend to publish, along with such re-
marks as they suggest. It is the case
submitted to Dr. LUSHINGTON and Mr.
RICHARDSON on the validity of the Duke
of SUSSEX'S first marriage, and it will be seen that,
in the opinion of these Learned Gentlemen,
the nzarrzage is not impeachable under the Royal
Marriage Act.

By the arrival of the Braganza steamer at Fal-
mouth on Saturday, we have received Lisbon papers
of the 13th ult. inclusive. The general erection in i
Portugal was still going on, the returns, as far as
could be ascertained, being decidedly in favour of
the Government. Another revolutionary movement
was, however, apprehended. The High Chartist,
or Tory faction, with the Duke of PALMELLA at
its head, was known tole engaged in a plot for the
subversion of the present Cabinet, and the replacing
the authority of the Crown on the basis which it
occupied before the September Revolution of 1836
—or in other words abolishing the Constitution, and
reviving Don PEDRO'S Charter. The list of a Ca-
binet of this faction, including the following names,
has even been handed about in the Chartist Clubs :
—The Duke de PALMELLA, the Marquis de SAL-
DANHA, and MM.de AGUIAR,de MAGALHAES,
da SOUZA AZEVEDO FAZENDA, and CEABRA.
As Portuguese statesmen are not so much as pre-
sumed by their own Journals to be influenced by
higher motives than their personal interests, we are
not. surprised to learn that the factious conduct of
the Duke de PALMELLA is attributed to his desire
of. being revenged upon a Government. that dared to
refuse hiM the appointment of Ambassador to- the.
Court of London. , Bad as the Tories are at
home, they are much better than the same class of
politicians elsewhere. How many embassies have
been refused to that pink of the Aristocracy, the
Marquis of LONDONDERRY, and yet we never
heard it whispered that his Lordship meditated re-
venging himself upon Lord MELBOURNE by revo-
lutionizing the country, and depriving Great Britain
of her boasted Constitution. Indeed such an idea
never entered into the head of the Noble Marquis,
even when stopped in his long-cherished diplomatic
expedition to St. Petersburgh.
Viscount DA CARRERRA, the Portuguese Mi-
nister at Paris, has been appointed Ambassador- to
the Court of Rome. The POPE and Queen
Donna MARIA are become friends, and this cir-
cumstance has already extinguished any glimmering
of hope remaining in the breasts of the Miguelites.
Of 16 of these rebels under sentence of death, 12
obtained a free pardon a few days previous to the
sailing of the Braganza. The remaining four had
been guilty of wilful murder under very aggravated
circumstances, but no sentence was issued for their
execution. They consequently remained in prison.
The Braganza brings the India mail, Via Alex-
andria, which left that port on the 22d ult.
Foreign ships of war in the Tagus :—Donegal,
Revenge, and Trinculo, British ;Le Blonde anti
Coquette, corvettes, French. Exchange upon
London, at 30 days' sight, 56d. to 56-id. per
milrei ; discount on ex-paper Money, 59 to 60
per cent.

The following account of the Russian expedition
against Khiva is copied from the cot respondence of
the Prussian State Gazette of the 16th inst., re-
ceived this morning. It is not for us to attempt
reconciling the contradictory reports of Russian
scribes respecting thesuccess or failure of this much-
talked-of expedition
iPneittoswinskaryc'hs
teoxpKedhiivtiaonas ;
I letters
from POLISH FRONTIER, APRIL 7.—According to the last RC-
Countsas
incanfrom
means suffered
from
soVa rms auwc
h from Berlin have stated. The uncommonly severe and
continued cold, and the accumulation of snow in the Steppe,
have certainly thrown great obstacles in the way of
the expedition, and, among other losses, 2,000 camels
have fallen victims to the unusual severity of the climate,
and about 1,600 are unable to do duty, but this is by no
means a reason for considering the whole expedition as
having failed, still less has General Petowsky retreated ;
on the contrary, the necessary beasts of burden, and the
men required to supply the losses, have been long since on
their way and will arrive on the Emba in time to set out
with the main body on the march to Khiva, uhich will
probably be reached in the beginning of May at the latest,
as the only obstacles to their I.:rther progress consist in
the swamps of the low country on the. Arrioo Daya, which
is intersected by innumerable ditches and canals, over
which there are no bridges
ST. PETERSBUROII. APRIL 9..—The Russian Invalid
has the following news of the expedition to Khiva :--
" It ii known front preceding accounts that the detach-
ment sent to Khiva was to be concentrated at the fortifi-
cations on the Emba, near its provisions. General Pe-
rowsky now reports that the troops happily reached this
frontier on the 18th February (Ist March), and encamped
on the Emba in a part more abundant in forage and fuel.
On its march the detachment encountered some dreadful
storms; and the cold had not abated. It was sometimes
(with a high wind) 25 deg. and more The health of the
troops is, on the whole, satisfactory.
accounts of them been The enemy had not
shown themselves, nor bad any accoun
re-
ceived."

The Paris Journals of Friday and Saturday have
been received. A telegraphic despatch from Mar-
shal VALLEE informs the Minister of War, that
at four o'clock on the morning of the 16th instant
the Dukes of ORLEANS and D'AUMALE landed
safely at Algiers.
The account of the victory gained by the Arab
Sheikh EL ARACII over a Lieutenant of AED-
EL-KADER is fully confirmed by letters from Tou-
lon. The old Sheikh sent to General GALLOISA
splendid sword, which that officer had previously
given him, with the edge hacked and the blade co-
vered with clotted blood, together with 500 human
ears picked, and two banners taken in the engage-
ment. A salute of twenty-one guns fro::: the-for-
tress of Constantine announced the great import-
ance which France attached to this victory.
In the Chamber of Deputies on Saturday Gene-
ral BUGEA.UD, of anti-cheap beef celebrity, pre..
sented tha Report on the Sugar Bill. The fohow•-
inn are the:modifications of the tari►f recommended
by the Committee

ON RAW SUGAR IMPORTED.
Francs.
From India
From other countries out of Europe 65
From the entrepots .............
85 By foreign ve55e15...........