The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-23 00:00:00

TEE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 23, 1844.

JUSTICE TO IRELAND;
At a MEETING held at Cleveland-row, Monday, Feb.
-nary 19,.1844,
Resolved...
That the conduct of tha present Government towards Ireland, in
its general policy, and particularly in connection with the late trial
of Daniel O'Connell and his fellow-traversers, deserves and demands
the most severe reprobation.
That equal laws and equal privileges—freedom of discussion—meet-
ing together to proclaim grievances—agitation by peaceable and legal
means—and fair trial by jury—are the birthrights of every subject of
the United Kingdom.
That the powers brought to bear against these rights in Ireland,
although directed against Mr. O'Connell, are equally adverse to the
rights of Englishmen.
That, in order to show the sympathy of Englishmen with Irish-
men, and the admiration entertained in this country for the constant
and consistent advocate of the rights and privileges of Irishmen
during the last forty years, a public dinner be given to Daniel
O'Connell, Esq., M.P.
That Thomas filingsby Duncombe, Esq., M.P. be requested to
[ preside on the occasion.

to; and after thodisposal of two or three unimportant
orders the House adjourned.

ately treats the ex-REGENT, and everybody, we are
certain, will consider the insurrections of Alicant and
Carthagena as ESPARTERIST insurrections, just like
'that attempted at Saragossa and other places, and
like the one also which previously concealed itself
under the mask of the Central Junta. The character
of this rebellion being known, the Government and
all good Spaniards must unite to crush it."
The Three per Cents. were done at 29 7-16 at 60
days, and the Five per Cents. at 20i.

Between the mischievous and infatuated tendency

to interpose in every foreign quarrel, the advent of
which could be detected on the political horizon, that
was the besetting and disastrous sin of the PITT po-

]icy, and of the race of imbecile Tory Ministers, who
procured toleration for their own insignificance,
by succeeding to the name without either the
energy or the talent of that great man ;—be-
tween this morbid excitability an& a wise, vigilant,

The Paris papers are chiefly occupied with the
motion of M. REMUSAT, to exclude placemen from
seats in the Chamber of Deputies. It is evidently
brought forward by the Opposition as a trial of
strength between the parties, and will probably give
rise to lengthened discussion. M. TBIERS, who op-
posed a similar motion when in office, has now
changed his mind, and will assist the Opposition in
annoying, and, if possible, overturning the GUIZOT
Ministry. The Journal des Debats, though confident
of success, evidently regards the question as one of
much importance, and has two articles on the subject,
one of which is to prove that both TniEns and
RBMVSAT, in 1840, asserted that the exclusion of
public functionaries from seats in the lower Chamber
would be dangerous to the institutions of the country.
Most of the Opposition journals affect surprise at the
silence of the Government organs, relative to the oc-
cupation of Otaheite, and assert that M. GIIIZOT is
sadly embarrassed by the " untoward event." The
remarks made in both Houses of Parliament last
night, will rather add to his difficulty. It was
rumoured at Paris that the Government would not
sanction the proceedings of the Admiral.
The French funds continued firm, the Three per
Cents. closing on Wednesday at 82f. 40e. ; and the
Fives at 125 f. 75c.
THE BOURSE—WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21.

and prompt alacrity in upholding the legitimate
interests and influence of Great Britain in every

JAMES COPPOCK. lion. Secretary.

region where they have once been asserted and ac-
knowledged,—there is a middle: course, which we
hope and trust it is not Lord ABERDEEN'S purpose to
disregard. The statements we have published
of recent proceedings at Tahiti, the violent
dethronement of the native sovereign, Queen Po-

MARE, and the French Admiral's proclamation of
their subjection to the authority of Loins Pm-
Lurs, are, if the intelligence may be depended
upon, of a character to call for much more satis-
factory explanation than has yet_ been elicited
from our Ministers in tither House of Parliament.
Sir R. PEEL, last night, in answer to a question
from Sir G. GREY, said he greatly regretted what had
taken place, and the Government had put itself in
communication with that of France on the subject.

The question was also brought before the House of
Lords by Lord BROUGHAM, and with the same re-
sult. The Earl of ABERDEEN believed the accounts
received were correct, and he had read them with
great regret. Lord BitousalLot's remarks will be
received with general approbation. The Opposition
press of France is moving heaven and earth to bring
and have seized
the nt wt
mo s countries
oifn t
Ao
dc irsailo n,
DprETIT THOUARS
as a god-send. We merely. state plain 'facts.
We have established in Tahiti, and all its neigh-

First

Highest Lowest

Price. Price. Price. Pries.
French Five per Cents. ... • 125 60 125 70 • • 125 60 • • 125 70
Three per Cents.• •.. 82 35 .. 82 as • • 82 35 .. 82 35
Bank of France• •. • • ••.• • 3277 50 .. 3277 50 —3277 50 ..3277 50
Lallltte Bank, I,ooof. Sharesllos .. 1105 • • 1105 .. 1105
5,000 f. Sharcsso72 50 ..5072 50 • • 5072 50 .-5072 50
Belgian Bank

bouring islands the most ,legitimate authority and
influence, which the prior rights .of discovery by
Captain WA.Lias, and almost an entire, century of
subsequent intercourse and amicable-Connexion, the
interchange of good offices, the maintenance of our
original patronage and protection-to:',lhe people, un-
interrupted commercial dealings with them, and even
the extension of the Royal hospitality and favour in this
country to their princes—can be' supposed to have
properly acquired for us. We have not been back-
ward to secure to large communities of their abori-
ginal inhabitants the advantages of
,ieleinentary edu-
cation ; and in instructing and advancing them in the
arts, resources; and refinements of dirilised existence
we have succeeded, to an unusual elfin% in making
them distinguish between the incidental vices; and
the permanent moral amelioration: likely to be pro-
duced among them by European -institutions.
Of late we' have witnessed with regret the
same disposition to usurp or effaceithe records of this
British priority in the march of PolYnesian improve-
ment, which M. DE BOUGAINVILLE Was encouraged
by his Government to attempt, in following, out the
previous track of that, most illustrious of circumnavi-
gators, our renowned countryman Captain COOK.
This disposition we may deem it Sufficient to de-
nounce on the score of bad faith and paltry disinge-
nuousness. But we are apt to fear that this second
or third, and it should seem Successful attempt
of French encroachment and duplicity on the inde-
pendence of Tahiti is, not only Morally, but politi-
cally also, a delinquency of much graver character.
In expressing this opinion, we are not disposed to
overrate the natural or commercial importance of the
territorial position on which the tricoloured
flag has been unfurled in token of French
sovereignty. Still less are we inclined to form
our estimate of that importance from the
opinions of the Slide, which regard the acquisi-
tion as a worthless one. French colonists are
proverbially the worst and most unsuccessful in the
world. Probably the French journals are far from
being competent authorities as to such estimates. It
may be—and, indeed, we have no doubt,—that France
could not hold Tahiti, or any other island, in
those seas, against us, in the deplorable event
of a war between Great Britain and France.
But this aspect of the probable issue of a distant,
and, we firmly believe, a most improbable
contingency, cannot diminish the intrinsic value
of Tahiti to our commercial and oven to our
naval marine, independently of all relations of com-
merce and trade, as an excellent and indispensable
station for the victualling and refitting of our ship-
ping in these latitudes, anda true land of succour for
the re-establishment of their sick and convalescent
crews. But to these relations of commerce
and. trade,—the whale fishery and sandalwood trade
of the neighbouring waters and islands ren-
der it an entrep6t, and a refuge of the
highest importance. For we are led to presume that
these once lucrative branches of our proverbial mari-
time enterprise, especially the whale fishery, are
not always to languish and decline, as they now do,
under the ignorant administration which still palsies
or circumscribes the evolutions of our commercial
industry.
It is not our demand, therefore, that the British
Government
should
y
pretence
territorial rights of a dignity
and value of t
o vindicating
jusf
to that extreme arbi-
triment in the distant Pacific, which must involve
a war in Europe and throughout the world
between two of the most powerful empires in
existence; for no such rights can be predi-
cated as to this case ;—no such lofty character
could be attributed to them, if they were. But we
do think, both in reference to the strong claims on
English protection which the unfortunate QUEEN pos-
sesses by her previous relations with British authority,
by her friendless position,, by her generous and un-
abated reliance on British good faith and sym-
pathy; and, lastly, by the overwhelming dis-
parity of force to which she has been com-
pelled to succumb ;—and in reference to what is due to
the honour and inviolable reputation of the British
flag, outraged (as we unde'rstand the case) by the
proceedings of the French 'Commander, in his zeal
to distinguish himself by a somewhat theatrical
spectacle, in honour of the King of the FRENCH; our
Foreign Minister is bound' to exact explicit and
..
ample explanations from the Cabinet of the
Tuileries. It neither consorts with our national
spirit, nor with our nati•nal interests—nor
can it be reconciled with the honour of our
Gracious SOVERElClx—thai, after the independent
though feeble MonarCh of; a: friendly and interesting
people had formally thrown herself on the protection
of the British QUEEN, a 'French officer, backed
by an insignificant French:naval force, should take
upon himself to anticipate; the result of that appeal ;
to outrage the character,* liberty, and the rights
of the appellant; and to repudiate the majesty and
authority of the tribunal to-which her prayer had
been carried. But, above, all, why should the mis-
sionaries, who have done so much good in these
islands, be turned adrift, for that must be the result,
by the abrupt decision of a;French Admiral ?

1841
Belgian Fives _
1071
_ _

1080
.. 101

..10S0-
107 f

•1080
.. 107 f

-1840 ........ 10:o 4 .. 104 ...1091 .. 1091
1842 •••••••• 1101 •• 110/ 1101 .. 1101
Spanish Active • • • • • • •. • 32 .. 321 • • 32 .. 321
Passive ........ • • • . 51`• • • 6 • • 81 • • 6
Old Deferred ..... • • 71 • • if •• 71 • • 71
Portuguese Five per Cents • • 451 • . 45; 451 .. 45f
Neapolitan • . • • • • • • • 104 50 . • 104 50 .. 104 .. 104
Roman 106 .. 1061 • • 10G .. 1061

.The Madrid journals pf .the 15th bring no addi-
tional intelligence from , AliCiant or Murcia. In the
meantime some of them comment very freely on the
cause of the rising in those quarters, and attribute
them chiefly to the ma,chinations of the English.
Mr. BULWER, it is said, has made a formal remon-
strance against these attacks upon England by the
Ministrial press, and .very justly, as a French Oppo-
sition paper asserts, for the subject is one of which
the English Ambassador might well take notice, the
Madrid journals being at this moment, in con-
sequence of the state of siege, under the direct con-
trol of the Ministers, who thus render themselves
responsible for the articles which appear in them.
Here is a specimen from the Castellano of these vile
attacks:—" Let not our readers forget the intrigues
and revolutionary schemes that proceed from London,
Gibraltar, and Lisbon, and connect themselves with
those which are going on at Madrid. Let them re-
member the landing of the rebels on the. coast of
Galicia a few years ago--the humiliation which our
young Quzzx has been recently subjected to by her
Prime Minister—the support afforded to the most
desperate partisans of ESPARTERo—the risings which
have simultaneously taken place on the frontiers of
Portugal and Spain—and the expulsion from Lisbon
of the ex-Minister, °LOW/AA. To all this, let us
add the fewplausible pretexts that can be found for
rebelling against a young QUEEN who has just as-
sumed the reins of the State—the significant silence
of the Sovereign of England, who aci affection-