The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-07 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1847.

Every lover of humanity and every aspirant for
civilisation will grieve to observe the continuance of
the unfortunate disturbances which have so long
desolated the population of Otaheite. Little indeed
has been gained by the inhabitants of the surrounding
archipelago from the establishment of the French
Protectorate in lieu of the independent government
of Queen POMARE. Instead of tranquillity, there has
been continual commotion ; instead of peaceful
barterings between the inhabitants of the different
islands, there have been increasing acrimony, and
sometimes open contention, between the aborigines
and their European defenders. Civilisation has with
its numberless blessings brought to that savage
people all the concomitants of
.hitherto unknown
wretchedness. With the humanising influences of
refined life they have been subjected to the endless
bickerings consequent upon refined avarice. In
the admirable drama of The Briton, by AMBROSE
Pumps, the Tribune VALENS 13 reminding the in-
sular chieftain of the advantages accruing to himself
and his countrymen from the Roman invasion. " We
found you naked," he exclaims. "And you found
us free !" is the retort of VANOC. It is invariably
the case in the colonization of newly-discovered or
hitherto unpeuetrated countries, that civilisation brings
with it curses as well as blessings. The benefits re-
sulting from the knowledge imparted to the ignorant
but innocent savages are unhappily aossciated with
evils to which they had previously been strangers.
When CORTEZ invaded Mexico he was accompanied
by the priesthood of a true religion and the apostles
of a sublime morality, but he was likewise attended
by the advocates of licentiousness and the promoters
of debauchery. The bloody troubles con-
sequent upon the alliances entered into
between COLOMBO and GUACANAGARI were the
immediate and mournful results of the discovery of a
new hemisphere. From the wonderful researches in
the southern ocean by the immortal navigator COOK,
arose those sanguinary skirmishes between the disci-
ples of enlightened Christianity and the upholders of
a barbarous idolatry, in one of which that :great
man was himself destroyed. As previously as were
the prurient passions of the aborigines displayed
in the Bahama Islands, upon the South-American
continent, and in the various groups contiguous to
Australia, hare those of the population of Otaheite
been aroused by the interference of the French
armaments in the administration of the primitive
government.

By the intelligence just received from Polynesia,
it would appear that the Sandwich Islands have
continued to be the arena of commotion,
of bloodshed, of chicaneries, and of double-dealing up
to the commencement of the autumn of 1846. In
the different encampments of the Otaheiteans at
Papenoo, at 'lantana, and at Bunaauia, the French,
under Governor BRUAT, have again been actively
engaged against the natives. Although Papeita is
reported to have become to a certain extent tran-
quillised, there is little cause for gratulation among
the other portions of the Otaheiteans. Their pro-
tectors have pursued their advantages from Tapai to
Papana, and thence to Ahona, they have penetrated
into the valley of Fatahua, and notwithstanding the
furious opposition of its defenders they have taken
possession of the fortification of Panavia.

It is in the occurrences of last winter, however,
that the disposition of French authority in that
quarter of Polynesia may be best conjectured. A
more detailed explanation of those occurrences than
has been hitherto received has reached us with
the last dispatches forwarded from Honolulu. From
this explanation it would seem that nothing could
have been more decisive or explicit than the under-
standing arrived at between Admiral Sir GEORGE
SEYMOUR, the Commander-in-Chief of her Britannic
Majesty's Forces in the Pacific Ocean, and the French
Commissioner at Otaheite. In consequence of the
protestation of the Chiefs of Huahine, Raietea, and
Borabora;that those islands could not,f.rom their inde-
pendence, be affected by any treaty made by Queen
POMARE, the question of their right to claim exclu-
sion from the Gallic Protectorate became a matter
of debate. With a view to ensure the dispassionate
investigation of this complicated question, the Britis,l,
Admiral stipulated that no hostile measure whatever
should be undertaken against the inhabitants, of Hua-
hine, Raietea, and Borabora until the Prjint at issue
should have been definitely settled, That was th..„
engagement voluntarily entereAl into between Sir
GEORGE SEYMOUR and thr..: French ' • Jmnaissioner,
that was the engagement the particulars of which
were communicated, by the former to the venerable
QUEEN of llv..daline,
Notwithsta:adingmeir.kiiously styled ARAIIPAIA.
this
agreement, three hundred dol-
lars
were soon afterwards extorted from the
people of Borabora by the French force, commanded
by Captain BONARD.
! on the 17th of January,A
thend island
H u a namely,hi
n ewas
entered by the same party, and an extraordinary fine
of six hundred dollars (I,emanded from its population.
In consequence of cer'cal• n misunderstandings arising
out of the relup,ui
and Otaheitepaay ns
to trhoisse
agaiamount,nst
the French
each other in arms. As they very well
merited, thft 'former suffered severely from the
encounter. The reasons given for this flagrant
violation, of the compact with Admiral SEYMOUR are
altog',Aer inadmissible, although there was maid_
considerable provocation. Ardently is it to be
fest'Ay
/..loped that a mere consciousness of the odium which
such proceedings are calculated to cast upon the
French throughout the world may deter the officers
of that nation from the repetition of these shameless
transactions. Unless there be some diminution of
their stringent authority in Polynesia, the very name
of the Protectorate will be a ridiculous satire.

Now that we axe so close upon the advent of the
session of 1847 it must be presumed that the
Ministry, with a view to the efficient discharge of
their initiatory functions of legislation, have by this
time, for the most part, matured their several measures
which, for the general welfare of the empire, they
consider essential to bes recommended to Parliament.
As affecting Ireland. in particular, we may feel
certain, from the intense pressure which her
almost disorganized condition has kept u-
upon the attention of the Government
have
their accession to pc wer, that the Cabiry..at have
or series of
conclusively decided as ;to the principle on
will base their measure, - 1:41e which they
4sgres, for her

regeneration. Respecting the details by which the
principle, they have determined on supporting, can be
best effectuated, it is most likely that they are daily
undergoing alteration, according to the varying in-
telligence which is constantly arriving from Ireland,
Whatever may be their preliminary, or corollary
measures of relief, for removing the diseased
symptoms which at present so fearfully disfigure
the social features on the other side of St.
George's Channel, there can now be but little
doubt that the main object will be to render them all
conducive to one great end, viz., that the land shall
be rendered primarily and substantially liable for the
support of the population born and bred upon its
respective divisions and localities. This is the pri-
mitive principle of society in its rudest form, and
flows in direct accordance with the prescribed dictates
of nature herself. We cannot analyse the history of
any nation, civilised, semi-barbarous, or in what is
termed a strictly primeval condition, without severally
discovering in their earliestages the universal prevalence
of the principle in question.
Whenever, through the artificiality of legislation,
this sound base of all social organization has been com-
promised, or lost sight of, the infringement of the mo-
ral laws of nature has always been rendered palpable
by the disastrous consequences which have ensued. No
matter how ingenious the devices resorted to by men
who had acquired large possessions, and were am-
bitious of retaining their territorial influence, re-
gardless of the ;duties inseparable from their acqui-
sitions, and to the faithful discharge of which
the native peasantry possessed an inalienable
claim by --",:nature,— no matter how subtle
may have been their selfish efforts to shift
their legitimate burdens upon the shoulders
of the industrious classes, ill capable of sus-
taining them, it only amounted to a putting off of
the evil day. Invariably has posterity been called
upon, sooner or later, to suffer for the delinquencies
of their ancestors. These historical lessons are most
fruitful in their beneficial effects. They teach men
that they are not to live for themselves alone—that
if they disregard the wants of the contemporary poor;
themselves or their descendants shall not escape with
impunity—and if the latter, then that they are only
dishonest stewards for those who must succeed to their
possessions. In fine, man is hereby impressed with the
salutary truth, that he is a link in a
.mighty chain
reaching from the confines of remotest antiquity, and
gradually extending itself into the vista of futurity—
and that his individual actions contribute to that
summation of national conduct by which, for weal or
woe, the destiny of his country will be regulated.
It is quite clear that a Bill for the reclamation of
waste lands in Ireland will be among the earliest of
those which the Government will introduce to the
Senate. It is equally clear that no necessity ought to
have existed for such a measure had the Imperial Par.
liament and Irish landlords long ago discharged their
respective and appropriate duties. However, except
as a warning for the future, jeremiads on this head
are utterly futile. In regard to the mode in which
the reclamation of the soil should be undertaken,
much of valuable light is imparted in a letter, just
printed in the form of a pamphlet, from Mr. RIGBY
WASON to Lord JOHN RUSSELL. It contains the
substance of a series of letters which have appeared in
our columns, which renders it unnecessary for us to
dilate upon it at any length. This gentleman ably
insists upon the principle to which we have referred
in our foregoing remarks. He points out that the
primary cause of the evils which afflict Ireland is not
the failure of the potato crop, inasmuch as, if it were,
the same evils would have afflicted Scotland, where,
in parts, and very extensively, a similar visitation has
been experienced. The distress has originated in the
want of employment occasioned by the cultivated
land in Ireland being divided into such small
possessions that employers of labour are not
to be found, except with the greatest difficulty,
and then at the lowest wages. The perni-
cious consequences of this state of things is clearly
elucidated by Mr. RIGBY WAsosr, and the remedy
suggested is to create a class of agricul-
tural labourers, for whom there is at present
no regular demand, by rendering their situation better
than that of the occupier of the existing small posses-
sions. To this end, we have the recommendation that,
out of the land to be reclaimed, there should be con-
stituted large farms, say of 250 acres, with a few
of about one-fifth the size, the latter to act as an incen-
tive to the honest and industrious labourer to become
a farmer himself. A calculation is made that, if
3,000,000 acres of land were, when reclaimed, to be
partitioned out upon this principle, permanent em-
ployment would be given to 120,000 heads of
families, exercising a moral and social influence
in Ireland of the most regenerative cha-
racter. Considering that the expense calculated
for the accomplishment of this scheme is insignificant,
compared with the object to be obtained—that the
scheme emanates from a gentleman who has himself,
during the past ten years, succeeded in profitably re-
claiming waste land at Corwan, to six miles in extent,
we think that his suggestions are entitled to a most
favourable consideration, and that the Government
might derive much benefit from a perusal of Mr.
WAsoses remarks respecting the real origin of the
aggravated evils of Ireland-211e/ius est petere fontes
quam sectari rivulos.

One
iti
oo thenf
o flreland,m es t
w alarmingmeh jfuesattiufireess ai n presentgltohoemy fo r
fore-
boding condition
for the future, is the total and almost un-
accountable negligence evinced by the farmers
generally with respect to the cultivation of their
inaggsr.ieuTltuherarel hlaabsobuere,ntahne almostfieldsl
iuenfiavlelroswa l,
seeevsseartailonhooldf
and uncared for, there is no tillage going forward or
preparation of the lands for the ensuing harvests.
The favourable time is passing away, moments that
cannot be recalled, flitting by ; while the small holders
look on in listless apathy, and take no steps to remedy
a state of things
which, if persevered in, must pro-
long of the people, and produce another
yeartohre
national distress and destitution, greater, if
possible, than that which unhappily prevails at pre-
sent. Last year was signalized by the almost
total destruction of that species of food on which the
great bulk of the population were supported. A loss
a wretchedness greater
than amountone
amounting • fully to 10,000,000/. sterling has been
of
sustained; but;tehra that loss occasioned
of human m y and
double
t'ne amount, if happening to any other descrip-
tion of edible. The very poorest, those' who, in
ordinary seasons, would have had a bare sufficiency, a
scanty support from the produce of their potato
ground, were deprived of their all, and plunged into
the most abject poverty. The high prices obtained
and obtainable for corn of every kind, in some degres
compensated the larger farmers for the failure of the
potato; but that which had perished was the only crop
to which the cottier could look, and when it became a
mass of putridity and rottenness, not worth the labour
that would be required to dig it out from the land,
nothing remained, he was ruined, reduced to ab-
solute and hopeless destitution. But lamentable as
was this calamity, and fearful as the suffering thereby
occasioned, there was something to fall back upon.
There was food in the country, although of a diffe-
rent and more expensive description than that usually
consumed. Although there was a necessity for a
large importation of breadstuffs, yet the expenditure
could be met; and although individuals and districts
suffered severely, and were exposed to the horrors of
famine, yet the country generally was preserved from
that fate by the gigantic and praiseworthy exertions
of the Government. An arduous and difficult task
was undoubtedly imposed on the Executive, which
was greatly increased by the manner in which every
thing was cast upon them by the landed proprietors
throughout the whole kingdom, with some few ho-
nourable exceptions. What was intended to have been
only an auxiliary to private enterprise was looked to
as the sole means of providing for the people, hence
that, which if duly and properly carried out in the
spirit in which it was conceived, would have proved
fla mostjotingon
valuable bturned
/boon, was into a means of in-
flicting
from the vast outlay. An important
change was
-perty heavy charges, and little benefit
was derived
themselvr authorised by the authorities, taking upon
.1 a grave and serious responsibility. There
was r:4, longer a necessity for making the present-
Plants for public works of an unproductive character.
Presentments for drainage were sanctioned, pro-
vided certain conditions were complied with by the
parties whose lands were to be improved by the ad-
vance of the public money, but here again something
was wanting; all were not compelled to join in mob ,