The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-10 00:00:00

MOSQUITIA.

The King of Mosquitia (a territory better known as
the " Mosquito shore") has issued a proclamation, for
the purpose of regulating and registering grants of land
made in that country to European settlers.
As this brings the subject under our notice, it
may not be uninteresting to give some account of
the present state of this country, which is not
a little singular; in reference to its connexion
with British subjects, ,Tts extent is about the same as
England ; it possesses severe: _fine harbours, is watered
by numerous rivers, enjoys a salubriC'us climate and a fer-
tile soil, and is in every way admirably ,:dapted for colo-
nisation, the more especially as it is in thi: immediate
vicinity that the projected communication betwZ'en the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans will probably be made.
father, The
dying
presenthis: King is a minor. The late King, his:
a few years ago, left a will, in which he
appointed certain Englishmen to be guardians to his
children and administrators of the affairs of' the kingdom
during the minority of his son. These gentle-
men were the Commandant at Belize,
a neigh-
bouring British settlement ; the chaplain to the
station, and two or three other gentlemen of that place,
with power to fill up any vacancies, and to add to their
number. It appears that these persons have entered up on
the duties of their office, for the proclamation, although
in the name of the King, is stated to be " with the advice
of his guardians." It also appears from the terms of the
proclamation that a new regulation is to be enforced
with respect to grants of land, which we understand has
become necessary in consequence of certain grants having
been fraudulently obtained, and in some instances con-
flicting claims made for the same land.
The sovereignty of this valuable country has been re-
peatedly offered to the British Crown, and the offer has
as often been declined. We will not now stop to inquire
into the wisdom of such refusal ;, but it is evident that
the British Government is not disposed to suffer such a
territory to become a dependency of any other Power,
from the fact that they have recently accredited an
agent to that kingdom, and from their having deputed
the superintendent of Belize to attend the coronation of
the e King as the representative of the British Sovereign.
must,Wtherefore, consider Mosquitia as an indepen-
dent kingdom, and its Sovereign as an acknowledged ally
of the British Crown.
W. e have reason to believe that a German company
are in treaty for a grant of land in the vicinity of Cape
Gracias a Dios, and that a large grant has been ob-
tained by an English company the purpose
number
of plant-
ing a colony on the Black Iti;er, a small
set-
tlers being already established at Bluefield:b er of
Coloniza-
tion being once commenced, it is probable the tide of
immigration will flow strongly towards these shores.
Near the sea the climate resembles that of the West
Indies ; near the mountains it resembles that of Europe;
consequently, the soil produces the sugar-cane and
the indigo plant in one district, while it grows wheat and
turnips in another. With these natural advantages
this country can only require proper manage-
ment to make it prosper ; we hope, there-
fore, that the system of colonization to be
adopted for this country may be of such a character
that the aborigines may derive solid advantages from
it, instead of its proving, as elsewhere, the cause of
their destruction. The attempt to civilise the Indian
has too often ended in his extermination. We hope this
may not be the case in the present instance, but that the
persns in whose hands have been placed in so unusual a
manner the destinies of this people, will not lose sight of the
grand object of their trust—the prosperity of the King their
ward, and of the people who are entrusted to their care ;
but, by adopting wise and prudent measures they may
have the proud satisfactioa of exhibiting to the world
the unwonted spectacle of a trite of Indians benefited
and civilized by their contact with Europeans, taking
their place among enlightened nations. The following
is the

I'itoCLAMATION.
" We, George, by the grace of God King of Mos-
quitia (otherwise called the Mosquitia territory). acting
by the advice of the guardians appoiuted under the will
of our late father Robert Frederick, King of Mosquitia,
do ordain and it is herby- ordained accordingly—
" 1. All persons, not being our natural born subjects,
who claim the right of holding land in perpetuity
within our kingdom by virtue of grants from the Crown,
shall without loss of time produce la, fore us, or before
the guardians aforesaid, their several grants, or such
other papers on which they found their claims, for the
purpose of beii registered.
" 2. All grants or land that shall appear to us, or to
the guardians aforesaid, to i;ve been justly and properly
obtained, or to which the parties shah be found to have
otherwise an equitable title, shall be registered in the
offices of Government at Bluefields.
4'3. The °cell, rion of land by all persons, mot being
natives of our kiqgdom, which shall not be duly regis-
tered as aforesaid, is illegal, and such land shall be in
revert to the Crown.
"4. All our magistrates are directed to facilitate the
registration of grants within their respective jurisdic-
tions, and to dispossess and expel from their usurped
lands all occupiers (not being natural-born subjects of
our kingdom) whose claims have not been duly re-
gistered.
"5. Claims for registration may be made, at the op-
tion of the claimants, either at the residence of Mr.
David Kilpatrick, clerk of the courts at Bluefields ; or
in England, at the office of Messrs. Barron and Smith,
army agents, No. 4, Upper Charles-street, Westminster,
London. " In the name of the King,
"GEORGE HODGSON,
" Court-house, Bluefields, Acting Commandant.
12th day of February, 1846."

A. FRIGHTFUL ILLUSTRATION OF
SLAVERY.
The following is the leading editorial article in the
last Essex Transcript (American paper) :—" Many of
our readers have probably seen a paragraph stating that
a young slave-girl was recently hanged at New Orleans,
for the crime of striking and abusing her mistress.
The religious press of the north has not, so far as we
are aware, made any comments upon this execution.
It is too busy pulling the mote out of the eye of the
Heathen, to notice the beam in our nominal Christianity
at home. Yet this case, viewed in all its aspects, is an
atrocity, which has, God be thanked, no parallel in hes-
' '.hen lands. It is a hideous offshoot of American Re-
publicanism and American Christianity. It seems
that Pauline—a young and beautiful girl—ats
tracted the admiration of her master, and being, to
use the words of the law, his " chattel personal to all
intents and purposes whatsoever," became the victim of
his lust. So wretched is the condition of the slave-
woman, that even the brutal and licentious regard of her
master is looked upon as the highest exaltation of which
her lot is susceptible. The slave-girl in this instance,
evidently so regarded it; and, as a natural consequence,
in her new condition triumphed over and insulted het
mistress—in other words, repaid in some degree the
scorn and abuse with which her mistress had made her
painfully familiar. The laws of the Christian State of
Mississippi inflict the punishment of death upon the
slave who lifts his or her hand against a white person.
Pauline was accused of beating her mistress, tried, and
found guilty, and condemned to die. But it was dis-
covered on the trial that she was in a condition to be-
come a mother, and her execution was delayed until
the birth of the child. She was conveyed to the prison-
cell. There for many weary months, uncheered by the
voice of kindness, alone, hopeless, desolate, she waited
for the advent of the new ar.d quickening life within her,
which was to be the signal of her own miserable death.
And the bells there called to mass and prayer-meeting,
and Methodists sang, and Baptists immersed, and Pres-
byterians sprinkled—and young mothers sm maidensle4
and
through
tears upon their new-born children; and_domestic
matrons of that great city sat in their cool verandahs
and talked of love and household joys and
happiness—while all that dreary time, the poor slave-
girl lay on the scanty straw of her dungeon, waiting
God of the white
birthg
Wasof the
ever child h iwl dh oi ft
awnidththwehahtlaea
Georgeher , S a n adulterous
dgkjounosyn tlh master.
teekrnmows dear
s'
Horrible
eai t martyrdom of ma-
ternity —that fearful trial which love alone convert*
into jay unspeakable endured under such condi-
tions? What was her substitute for the kind voices
Pt
oam. e
fnaeadul
hki
ngre
hen
prisonaet
wt l
her couch
which
scitoohobut
htrelshueohuin
tcpakogs e
pl
of torture
placerkt otot
ehfreaetopanuf
effdrmre cet
keepers
solace
heel
aa)
ihn?
ep
n\epov,
Rpytshebwaseati Thentwandni
dsi harsh
itwtehj
tauntseoienyt g
oft
the
dhleroerefraa,
poorantici-
pations
The prospect of seeing the child of her sorrow, of
feeling its lips upon her bosom, of hearing its feeble
cry—alone, iiavioit,a of it. unnatural fatbar, aftli
then in a few days, just when the mother's affec-
tions are strongest, and the first smile of her infant
compensates for the pangs of the past—the
scaffold and the hangman Think of that last
terrible scene—the tearing of the infant from her
arms, the death-march to the gallows, the rope
around her delicate neck, and her long and readf l
u
struggles—(for, attenuated and worn by physicadl suffer-
ing and mental sorrow, her slight frame had not sufficient
weight left to produce the dislocation of her neck, on the
Congress
nu!
gr
rs
euoscfsh are
e debaterst
country'
()eu fnr
turaiyrt fruits
half an hour—a spectacle for fiends, in the shape of hu-
manity.
falling of the drop)—swinging there alive for nearly
Newthe England,,h "honour
of slavery. 0, in the name of the blessed God, teach
Mothers of
your children to hate it, and to pity its victims. Petty
e empty-headed
d l s
should be compromised in the matter of the
vpaoslittlyiciacnosncaernnd
rOregon
boundary. Fools !—one such horrible at y
ocit as this
murder of poor Pauline, "
compromises" us too deeply
to warrant any further
display of their patriotism. It
would compromise Paradise itself. ...kn intelligent and
philanthropic Europ-an gentleman who was in New
Orleans at the time of the execution, in a letter to a
friend in this vicinity, after detailing the circumstances
of the revolting affair, exclaims, " God of goodness
I.
God of justice !—there must be a future state to redress
the wrongs of this. I am almost tempted to say, them
must be a future state, or no God !"

EXECUTION of PIERRE LECOMTE.
This unhappy man was guillotined on Monday morning,
at six o'clock, at the Barriere St. Jacques. Every avenue to
the place was so barred up by military and police, that the
people were completely excluded from all approach to the
scaffold. The prisoner, in conformity with his sentence,
walked barefooted, and with a black veil over his face, front
the prison across the garden of the Luxembourg, on leaving
which he mounted a cart, attended by the Abbe Grivel, for
whom he seemed to have formed a sort of affection, and in:
whose hands he was quite docile. On arriving at the place of
execution, he was at once placed upon the guillotine, and in_
a moment all was over.
The King was, according to
t ' •
wards mercy, for he received M. Duverg.!
et.
withand immediatelygreitincl.
ness when he presented Lecomte'b petition,
Justice;
public accounts, disposed 'CO.,
see
anyb tthe
of u re.
notground for
advising shows that those personages could
sent for the Chancellor and Minister
advising his Majesty to interfere with the extet4ien of the
gelltOnCe.

:); •

RAILWAY COMMITTEES.
(YESTERDAY.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.
ILAILWICR AND EASTERN COUNTIES
• JUNCTION RAILWAY AND PIER.
The Committee on this Bill met for the first time at eleven
o'clock this morning, in Con2auttee-room B. The members
are—Lord Fitzwilliam (chairman), Earl Huntingdon, and
. Lords Berwick, Redesdale, and Newcastle.
Mr. Cockle/I.n and Mr. James appeared for the promoters
of the Bill, which was opposed by Mr. Austin and Mr. Red-
well, on the the part of the Eastern Union Railway, and by
Mr. O'Malley on the part of certain petitioning landowners.
Mr. COCKBURN opened the case for the promoters, and
several witnesses were called to prove the advantages to be
derived from the formation of such a line, &c.
Mr. Braithwaite, engineer to the line, gave the usual en-
gineering evidence. A great part of the line will be
common to the Eastern Counties and Eastern Union, but of
new railway it would be necessary to make thirteen miles.
The estimate is 180,0001., which includes the making of the
railway and of the pier. In consequence of an alteration in
the plans, the pier being proposed to be carried out much
further than was expected, the cost will be increased by 5001,
but this will be easily made up out of the estimate for con-
tingencies. The alteration was suggested by the Admiralty.
The steepest gradient on the new line would be 1 in 120, but
on the part of the Eastern Counties which they would use.
there was an inclined plane three miles in length,
which two miles were on a gradient of 1 in 96, and
one mile on a gradient of 1 in 90. The line.lepsroor
new
by the Eastern Uniem Company had but eleven nn
railway, but the works were much heavier. This line
crossed a great many roads on a level, and the expense of
gates and watchmen at these crossings was included in the
estimate. Mr. Locke was the engineer to the line of the
Eastern Union Railway. He thought no mischief would
result from the use of part of the Eastern Union line by
wick and Eastern Counties; as although they were
now rivals, they would, no doubt settle matters amicably
it' the Bill were passed. Mr. Locke's line was a competing
line before the Committee of the House of Commons, where
it was thrown out.
This being the case for the promoters,
Mr. AUSTIN proceeded to show that the line proposed by
the Eastern Union Company was shorter and more direct,
bad better gradients, accommodated a greater number of im-
portant places, would be less expensive, and was on the whole
a better line than the Harwich and Eastern Counties, not-
withstanding the preference given to the latter by the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons. Having concluded his
address, he called several witnesses, gentlemen residing in
the district through which the railway passed, in support of
his case.
Mr. O'MALLEY then addressed the Committee on the part
of his clients, petitioners against the Bill, showing the manner
in which the line would affect their property, and represent-
ing that the injury it would do would not be justified by any
public advantage that would result from its construction.
Mr. CocKanaN replied on the part of the promoters.
The Committee then ordered the room to be cleared, and
after a consultation of not more than one minute, the parties
were re-admitted, when
The CHAIR3IAN said—lt is the unanimous opinion of the
Committee that the Bill ought not to be proceeded with.
The Committee then rose at twenty minutes past three
o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
GROUP 11.
CORNWALL.

This Committee met at the usual hour. Lord Morpetb,
chairman.
Captain Plumridge, R.N., was the first witness called. H'
gave evidence of the advantages which a central line would
afford as a convenience to the district, and as a.ore zecurL
from the operations of an enemy.
A number of other witnesses were called, who gave evi-
dence of a similar nature, none of which was of a nature tc
interest the public, or to warrant us in giving it at any-length.
The Committee rose at five o'clock, and adjourned till twelve
to-morrow.

GROUP XIII.
This Committe met this day at twelve o'clock; Sir William
Clay is the chair.

AYR AND GALLOWAY.

The case on behalf of this line of railway was resumed.
Mr. Williamson was recalled and shortly re-examined on
f.j.,e lime, coal, lead, and copper mineral fields along the route
Of L he line, which he represented to be very great.
Vie witness was cross-examined at some length with the
object of showing that the mineral traffic had been much
over-seated, and that most of the mineral fields given in to
the Committee did not give a fair representation of the case.
Mr. Hunter, manager of the Coltness iron works, gene-
rally corroborated the evidence of Mr. Williamson with re-
gard to ,the resources of the Dalmellington and Patna
mineral fieNi on the route of the line, and the probability of
iron works being established extensively in the event of the
formation of thx' railway.
Colonel Catheort of Craigengellic, deposed as to the
mineral wealth of •
the Dalmellington mineral field and the
general advantages line would confer on the country.
Mr. Paul was exami;led as to the benefits the line would
confer on the town of Ayr, and deposed that the feeling of
the public bodies and inha,l'itants of Ayr was generally in
its favour.
Mr. Telfer, shipper and merchant of Ayr, gave evidence
to the same effect.
The Committee adjourned tilt to-morrow, at twelve
o'clock.

GROUP XIV.
'rho Seleict, Committee appointed to considt:S the merits of
the Mita awnprised in this group re-assembled At the usual
hoirethArnorning ; Mr. Protheroe in the chair.