The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-16 00:00:00

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS.

(From the Paris Constitationnel.)
" The last letters from the Marquesas Islands give
a sad picture of this colony. Our countrymen sent
into this banishment are struck with discouragement
at the first aspect of our deplorable possession. Let
a heap of arid summits be imagined—of rocks heaped
together, through which run thin slips of land on the
banks of torrents. In the centre of each isle rises an
immense wall of granite, dividing the country into
two parts. On the right and the left are counter-
eminences, gigantic ridges, which spring from the
principal Chain, and find their base in the abysses of
the sea. Not only the two parts of the island, sepa-
rated by the principal chain, have no possible commu-
nication between them, but the narrow vallies which
flank this chain on the two slopes do not open the one
into the other. It must also not be attempted to discover
a line of communication along the shore, for the lateral
ridges advance into the sea, and form an impassable bar-
rier. Thus this country can never possess roads. The
most extensive valleys are only three miles long by
one wide. Nature there displays the ordinary luxuri-
ance of vegetation in the tropics, that is, vegetables
grow there with great rapidity, but the species pre-
sent but little variety, and, unfortunately, they offer
almost no alimentary resources, and none whatever
for building. Add to this, that the Marquesas have
no game. The only productions of the country which
have any value are cocoa trees, pineapples, and yams,
cultivated in small quantity, without reckoning pigs
sad poultry, exceedingly rare, which have been lin-
g:art:l by Europeans. On this side all is yet to be
As for the natives, it is much worse. Naviga-
tors, who bad found in the greatest number of the
islands of the South Seas populations mild and
haves-met in the Marquesas tribes of in-
tractable and cunning men, superstitious, but
unbelieving, insensible to tho influences of
civilisation—the only people, in fact, of all
the surrounding islands where the missionaries
have not yet made a proselyte. Thus, during the
eighteen months that have elapsed since the taking
possession until the date of the last news, French
domination has not made any progress in the island
of Taouata, whence there still reigns, in spite of the
assassination of Captain Halley, the famous Yotete.
Captain Cugney, of the marines, who has temporarily
replaced M. Halley in the command of the south-
eastern group of the Marquesas, has made vain
efforts to invest a new chief with the power of Yotete.
This chief, named Aleheono, was declared King of the
island, and saluted with
.five cannon shots. He re-
ceived presents, and amongst others a new uniform,
which appears to have won for us all his sympathies.
Unfortunately, his orders, attended to in all other re-
spects, are powerless in what concerns France and
the/ French. The Kanaks (such is the name usually
given to the natives) have not consented to return to
the Bay of IVaitahu' under the protection of our
establishment, and thus the French forces are iso-
lated on to shore formerly inhabited by Yotete and
his tribe. This chief has retired to a neighbouring
bay, where he preserves a threatening attitude. He
has, it is said, several hundreds of muskets. Tht
- state of things is not more satisfactory in the north-
eastern group. Navigators only know of the tribes
of Nouka-Hiva, those inhabiting the southern
valleys. The tribes established in the northern
valleys, if there are any, have not performed any act
of submission to France, and do not probably know
the French flag. The climate of the Marquesas is
not the least inconvenience of this possession. The
cold winds, which suddenly change the habitual tern-
perature,
bring maladies with which several soldiers
have been seized—amongst others a blindness of longer
or shorter duration, from which few Europeans have
been able to protect themselves. Rains, truly resembling
those of the deluge, metamorphose the surface of these
Islands into vast marshes during six months in theyear.
They undermine the foundations of the constructions,
which the heat of the sun has already split, and which
the wind carries away. Our troops have been obliged
in the rainy season to rebuild walls destroyed by the
inundation, to repair several times the fortifications
that were damaged. After a week of those periodical
deluges, there remains no further trace of embank-
ments. Besides, the repairs, which are executed
under a pelting shower of rain, cannot be effected
without entering into the mud up to the knees. It is
in this state that our marines have worked during the
whole of the last seasorie showing, at 4,000 leagues
from France, the discipline and devotedness of which
the troops of Algeria exhibit every day such striking
examples. The more the question is examined, the better
it is seen that the taking possession of the archipelago of
the Marquesas constitutes a charge without any kind of
. advantage. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has endea-
voured to prove that the Cabinet had been induced
to order the occupation of those islands with a view
to creating ports for vessels to put into, and obtain
provisions. This was intended as well for the whalers
on the coasts of Peru and Chili as for trading vessels
proceeding to China by doubling Cape Horn. Ili
therto, the practice of the whalers has been to put
in at New Zealand. That country having been occu-
pied by England, our vessels have been exposed to all
the obstacles which the rivalry of one people agains
another can produce. In this point of view, it was
perhaps useful to open to them a national port. Then
existed one, to which the whalers know the way, that
of Akaroa, occupied by a French colony. We shall
not inquire why the Government has suffered the
English flag to be imposed on this country ; but there
were a hundred isles amongst the numerous archipela-
gos.% Ofthe South Sea, of which it would have been more
advantageous to take possession—the Gambier islands.
for
instance, which support a Christian population de-
voted to France; Tahiti particularly, which would
have o2"cred us resources very different from the
Marquesas. We should have found in this queen of
the islands of Oceania a people mild, Christian, and
accustomed to European manners; we should have
found there a more favourable climate,,haebleitt r situa-
tion, and greater natural riches. arpuesas,
situate at about 1,200 leagues from the coastl Peru.
forming an isolated group between the Sandwicho
Islands and the other archipelagoes of Oceania ar not
situate on the great highway to China by Cape' Horn.
In In turning aside from their course they can touch
there from April to November, at the period of the
north-west monsoon. In the other seasons of the year,
and when the north-west monsoon will prevail in the
China Seas, that is from November to April, the yes-
sels which sail from Peru will proceed to the north of
the line, and will put in at the Sandwich Islands.
Thus, it is a matter of great doubt whether the Mar-
quesas offer any advantage as a place to put into for
Besides, is it not notorious
vessels trading to China.
that this commerce is still to come into existence, or
that it exists only in the portfolio of the Minister of
Foreign Affairs ? The real motive of the occupa-
tion of the Marquesas was declared some years
ago in the wish of the Government to create
in Oceania a new Botany Bay. The law of
transportation having failed before the Chambers,
the Marquesas have changed their destina-
tion. It is since then that the Government has been
suddenly seized with a quite fresh solicitude for our
whalers, whose interests were so lightly abandoned
at New Zealand. It is since then that it felt the ne-
cessity, of protecting our
account
in the Chinese
Seas. It is to turn to the useless establish-
ment of the Marquesas that the Ministry has thought
of*dog the 'lsthmus of Panama opened, but which
vill-neyerbetipened. Thus, whilst it ought to have
fob'' bualling places for vessels, it is vessels s for victualling places."
sA,SO,

~`

Jam—es Graham, Sir Thomas Fremantle, and other
official gentlemen, had interviews with Sir Robert Peel
yesterday.
•
trb

411,

THE GO-A-HEAD SYSTEM. PIRIT of tho PUBLIC JOURNALS.
(Frans the First Number of the Railway Record.) FAON EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
A marvellous country is this England of ours— GLOBE.—An industrious compiler had the simpli-
marvellous in minis and in bodies—marvellous in I city to make a collection of what he called the Opinions
erns and in arts--the world's school and the world's of Sir Robert Peel. We wish some one would collect
workshop. Planted iti tha, watery highway between and publish the Plausibilities of Sir Robert Peel.
North and South Europe, it was too valuable a site These are not to be dignified by the name of opinions,
for a weak people to possess, and the choicest blood of but rather to be regarded as the anise en scene—the
the world selected it for an abiding place. Year by drapery or garnish of opinions. It is not what Sir R.
year, and century by century, have they gone on Peel thinks, but what he thinks Mrs. Grundy
improving it. From a cattle farm, a corn ground, a will think, most frequently pre-occupies his mighty
garden, it became a handicrafty, a manufactory, a mind on difficult and delicate occasions. The
mill, for the production of tools, machines, and result of his refined conjectures of the coarse
clothing; from a wind power and a water power, it be- views of the vulgar is sometimes curious.
came a workshop of steam power; from a land of " What will Mrs. Grundy say ?" is always
bridle paths, it grew to be a land of wheel-roads ; taken into consideration ; but as there are
from a land of rivers to a land of canals ; from a land often solid and weighty considerations on the oppo-
of horse vehicles to a land of steam trains ; from a site side, Sir Robert Peel see-saws, as it were, be-
land of rock roads to a land of iron roads ; and it has tween Grundy rigidly, and the moral laxity of his
yet to grow from direct engine traction, passing by party. Thus, the mere suspicion of election compro-
ropes of hemp an 1 iron, to the traction of a rope of mises at one time roused all the Grundy in the Prime
air-wound-otr-wind-coiled away by the action of a Minister. At another time, the most positive proof
distant machine. Verily, it is a land to be proud of. of delinquency could not move him to animadversion.
where grow the race of men who have wrought all Thus the horror of a duel between two officers
this work, first for England itself, and next for the nearly connected awakened all his indignant piety
whole world. against—the widow of the one who fell. While
Their infancy devoted to coal tracking, in slow riot even the known opinion of Mrs. Grundy could
rivalry with canals, railways became, in the hands of stir him to any notice of the flagrant act of a law-
George Stephenson, at one giant step, the world's officer of the Crown interrupting by a challenge the
wonder. A self-taught man, untrammelled by solemn task of a court of justice. Satisfaction might
school doctrines, he grappled with the powers of well be demanded by Mrs. Grundy for this lapse from
nature, vanquished all obstacles, and taught steam plausibility; and satisfaction was naturally to be
and iron to outstrip the swiftest steed. New afforded by doing the plausible doubly on the next
circumstances of all kinds constantly arose, and legal occasion. The next time any law officer of the
almost intuitively were the fitting contrive Crown was concerned, Mrs. Grundy expected
antes adopted to meet each fresh emergency. Sir Robert Peel would do his duty. And
Seldom had that country of energetic enterprise, has he not just done it? May not the immo-
the American Union, received such an impulse as lation of a Fitzroy Kelly atone for Attorney-General
it did from the opening of the Liverpool and Man- Smith ? Considering the determined refusal of po-
cheater Railway. Men there were fairly mad with litical independence to their tenant constituencies by
excitement ; fur the time being they held Georg. the Jolterhead interest which so mainly seated Sir
Stephenson to be a greater man than George Wash- Robert Peel, it is really rather amusing to find the
ington ; they would have pawned their " wild admitted professional titles to Tory promotion set
lands" to have been enabled to rank him as one of aside, because the person beyond comparison possess-
their own citizens. 'The " old country" was "going ing them, not being in a position to bully his way
a-head and no mistake ;" and the land of the stars into Parliament, was obliged to buy it. Intimidation
and stripes was looking out sharp to cut in a-head of is a privilege rightfully belonging to landlords ; bribery
her, and " shove out the Britishers." is a practice which has been used by mere moneyed
upstarts or professional aspirants, and which cannot,
therefore' be entitled to the same tolerance! Above
all, Mrs. Grundy has her eyes open to the latter trans-
gression ; and, as Mrs. Grundy does not wear the
brightest of spectacles, the former may es-
cape her gaze for some time longer. Besides, Mrs.
Grundy has a due sense of dignities ; and quite
acquiesces in the dictatorship of Dukes " with a great
stake in the country." Accordingly Mr. Thesiger is
to be Solicitor-General ; and Mr. Fitzroy Kelly to
be—scapegoat for the sins of the people. We subjoin
the following remarks of a correspondent on this ap-
pointment :—" The nomination of Mr. Thesiger to
the Solicitor-Generalship, with the prospect of, at no
distant day, succeeding to a still more more import-
ant station, is one that the Government can hardly
flatter itself will meet with much favour either in
Westminster Hall or in other less learned quarters.
However estimable that gentleman may be in
private life, 'and however popular from his
maw amiable qualities (and in these respects
he is surpassed by no member of the bar), yet it
cannot be denied that he has never yet, up to this
time, displayed that amount of legal knowledge, that
various, extensive, and profound learning which has
been generally thought necessary for the proper dis-
charge of the duties of that important office, and
which should not be much, if at all, less than that
which distinguishes the venerable sages of the bench,
with their experientici vginti annorum, to
r
whose quietis ordinibu a Solicitor-General may
always expect an early ascription, if he is
not promoted above them. Mr. Thesiger
has gained his reputation far more as a clever, zea-
lous advocate than as a deep lawyer (nor even as
such is he quite at the head of his profession); his
talents are more showy than solid ; he shines more in
a case at Nisi Prius than in arguing a knotty point
before the Judges in Banco; and we cannot but
think, therefore, that if amount of legal attainments
was what should have guided the Government in select-
ing a successor to Sir W. Follett, Mr. Kelly would
have been found better fitted for the situation than
the more fortunate man to whom it has been given.
At any rate, we must again express our opinion,
which we believe will be that of the public in general,
that Mr. Thesiger has been rewarded above his
merits, and that, if he really was (as we must believe
him to be) the most eligible person that the Govern-
ment could find, then we must come to one of two
conclusions—either that the bar has sadly degene-
rated since the days when such men as Scott, and
Shepherd, and Gifford, and Copley, were Solicitors-
General; or that, the amount of talent in the profes-
sion being still the same, the Government has not
the good fortune to number amongst its adherents
any of those eminent persons, respecting whose quali-
fications to fill this or any higher legal situation there
could be no difference of opinion."
STANDARD.—The Morning Chronicle, in an
article of this morning, upon Lord Eliot's Irish Re-
gistration Bill, charges the Noble Lord with the
purpose of disfranchising two-thirds of the 101. free-
holders. This charge is altogether groundless. Lord
Eliot's Bill will disfranchise no one not already
disfranchised by the Reform Bill of 1832. On the
other hand, in the proposed enfranchisement of the
possessors of freeholds of inheritance of 51. annual
value, and in the 301. occupation tenants, it will make
a large addition to the bona fide constituency. What
our Contemporary means, however, by the exten-
sive disfranchisement of which it speaks, is the
exclusion of fraudulent votes. In defiance of
the express words of the law, and of the
decision of, we believe, ten out of the twelve
judges of Ireland—including in the majority Mr.
Justice Crampton, by whom the law under consi•
deration was drawn up—in defiance of this clear de-
monstration of what the law is, a great number of per-
,ons have been placed upon the registry who ought
not to be placed upon it ; and though Lord Eliot's Bill,
with extraordinary indulgence, but perhaps ques-
tionable propriety, allows the intruder to remains to
the end of their term of registration, it declares
that the law shall be observed for the future,
and that no man shall be registered as a county elec-
tor without a beneficial interest in the tenement from
which he registers. The effect of this declaration,
we believe, will be to augment the constituency in
the end, without any consideration of the
addition to be made by the two new classes
if electors to be introduced. It is a well known
fact that the late decline in the Irish registry
has arisen altogether from the progress of agitation;
nearly all but the poorest and most reckless, and at
the same time the most enslaved class of tenants,
anxiously rejecting a political privilege, in the exer-
,sise of which they must expose themselves to
the tyranny of the priest-led rabble, and all the
abloquy and ridicule which that rabble so well
knows how to employ on the one side; or on the
other disoblige their natural protectors and best
friends, by strengthening the enemies of the public
oeace. Well-disposed and prudent men placed
in such a painful alternative naturally shrink
.1-om it by the only pith they can—declining
the franchise. In some cases, though qualified,
they refuse to register their votes ; but this profes-
,edly neutral course demands, in the face of tyrants
by whom even neutrality is treated as a crime, a de-
gree of boldness beyond the temper of the majority,
ind much the more common resource of the well-
disposed and prudent is to look for interests which
do not carry the qualification. IVe have heard
of hundreds of cases in which the tenant has
elicited to have his term reduced by one-half or a
quarter of a year within the interest that confers a vote
—we believe that the actual cases might be counted by
tens of thousands. The removal of the fictitious votes
from the registry will, however, destroy the influence of
Agitation, as far, at least, as elections are con-
cerned ; and it may be expected that when
at liberty to exercise the franchise according to
his own judgment, and free from tyrannical control,
every qualified person in Ireland will, as in Eng-
land, avail himself of the privilege. Is it then
unreasonable to suppose that the removal from
the registry of the illegal and fictitious votes that
now encumber it, and that make the incendiary
priests the principals at every contested election,
would alone greatly enlarge the constituency, as,
unquestionably, it must infinitely improve it ?
And are we sanguine in anticipating that the
effect of Lord Eliot's Bill, taken as a whole,
must be to multiply the Irish constituency three
or four-fold in the course of a very few years ?
With this conviction firmly rooted in our minds,
we must, however, acknowledge that we think
a great deal too much importance is attached to the
cooontsgidoerathtieownhooflenulmenbegtrhs inof thisui vine rast at el
r.s
uAfflrlagweh ornwuisltl
admit that the security for good government, not
self-government, is the object of the representative
system. It is the sense and • •
patriotism—not the
personal or local interest, or the passion of a na-
tion that is sought to be collected in its Legisla-
ture.
And hence it arises that, once returned
to Parliament, a Member is supposed to repre-
sent .not this county, or that city, or a borough,
but the whole United Kingdom. This Mr. Burke
has clearly pointed out in his distincti( n be-
tween a representative and a delegate. But the
sense and patriotism of the country can be
collected only from the votes of the intelli-
gent and independent—which never observes
the ratio of mere numbers. Whatever their num-
bers, the very poor and very ignorant will never
think for themselves, if they ever think at all upon
public affairs. Their votes when they have
them, therefore, become the property of a jug-
gler who cheats, or a master who bribes or
coerces. The attempt to place political power indis-
criminately in the hands of a multitude of poor
and ignorant persons, has always practically resulted in