The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-24 00:00:00

AUL

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1844.

In the House of Lords a Bill was read a second
time to simplify the transfer of real property.
The Bishop of EXETER moved for a Select Com-
mittee to inquire into the state of religious worship
and spiritual instruction in the union workhouses
in England and Wales. The speech of this Puseyite
Prelate was what might have been expected. It
was all Church, and full of hostility to Dissenters.
He wished, as a matter of course, to raise the au-
thority of the Church above all other authorities,
and told the Government, that if they refused a Com-
mittee of Inquiry the glory of the Ministry would
be eclipsed. The Committee was refused, for the
motion was negatived without a division. We refer our
readers to the report to show what priests can do.
The House adjourned at Half-past Seven.

In the Commons, Mr. C. RUSSELL moved the second
reading of the Newbury and Great Western Railway
Bill. Sir Was. HEATHCOTE opposed the motion, un-
less he had a clear understanding from Mr. RUSSELL
that no opposition would be made to another com-
peting line, that by the South Western Con2pany from
Basingstoke to Newbury. A brief discussion took
place. Mr. GLADSTONE thought the second reading
of the Bill should be deferred for a fortnight, and Mr.
C. RUSSELL had no objection. The second reading
was accordingly postponed for a fortnight.
Capt. PECHELL gave notice that on Thursday next
he should make a motion relative to defaulters in the
payment of assessed taxes.

On the motion of Sir J. GRAHAM, after some ex-
planation with regard to the Gilbert Unions, the
Poor-law Amendment Bill was read a second time,
with an understanding that the discussion on the
Bill was to take place on going into Committee.
In answer to a question from Mr. WALLACE, Sir
G. CLERK said that the Government had given di-
rections, in reference to the free-postage paper, to
have a certain number of half-sheets prepared, as an
experiment, which would be ready in a few days for
delivery. The p4ers would be sold at 2s. 3d. a
quire, and lid. each.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL resumed the debate on
the state of Ireland. The greater part of his speech
referred to the mode of conducting the State trials
in Ireland, and to the course which he had pursued
under similar circumstances in England, and was
distinguished by great moderation and good feeling
towards his opponents.
Mr. ROEBUCK complimented the Attorney-General
for the mild and conciliatory manner in which he
had expressed himself, and then proceeded to discuss
the question brought forward by Lord JOHN
RUSSELL. The Irish state trials formed one of the
main topics of his speech, and, in that respect
he only followed _ the example of his pre-
decessors. The result of these trials, he said,

iad no moral effect. One opinion, however, h e
expressed, in which every Englishman, Scotsman,
and most Irish will agree—he could not conceive
a greater mischief that could happen to Ireland than
repeal, except the continuance of a military Govern-
ment. This is an honourable admission from one
who took such a strong interest in the Canadian in-
surrection.

Mr. O'CONNELL and Sir R. PEEL then followed,
and Lord J. RUSSELL replied. The House, then, at
Four o'Clock, divided, when the numbers were—

For the motion.
Against it
Majority against the motion ..-99

. 225
. 324

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-
licy, 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 and a wise, vigilant,
and prompt alacrity in upholding the legitimate
interests and influence of Great Britain in every
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 nativd::sf4reign, Queen Po-
MARE, and the, 'i•itrio.*,4lktiiiars proclamation of
their sulfection „Arthorify of Lours Pm-
LierE, akel if the, intelligence !nay be depended
upon, of dv'iliaraetti-ek;c'xall for I,much more satis-
factory e'4l;f4l-IW,Vo%tet been elicited
from oui,Vrititeris4ol( kl-qnse of Parliament.
Sir R. PalekorxXhiliklayi intaiiswer to a question
from Sir G. Mir; stctOgieitiA4retted what had
' taken place, and the Government Wad put itself in
communication with that of France on the subject.
The question was also brought before the House of
Lords by Lord BROUGIAM, and with the same re-
sult. The Earl of ABERDEEN believed the accounts
received were correct, and he had read them with
great regret: LorrtGuasf's remarks will be
received wiifiefie6 *probation. The Opposition
press of Fraridel4 Ms)vitig--heaven and earth to bring
the two countries'TritclOrlision, and have seized
upon this exploit of Admiral DUPETIT THOUARS
as a god-send. We merely state plain facts.
We have established in Tahiti and all its neigh-
bouring islands the most legitimate authority and
influence, which the prior rights of discovery by
Captain Wara.rs, 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 the 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 elementary edu-
cation ; and in instructing and advancing them in the
arts, resources, and refinements of civilised existence
we have succeeded, to an unusual extent, 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 efface the 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 Coon.
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 Caen of French
sovereignty. Still less are we inclined to form
our estimate of that importance from the
opinions of the Siicle, 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 he—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 even 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, and a 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 entrepot, 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 interpose in this matter, on a
pretence of vindicating territorial rights of a dignity
and value to justify recourse 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 understand 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 national interests—nor
can it be reconciled with the honour of our
Gracious SOVEREIGN—that, 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, the 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 ?

The Madrid journals of the 15th bring no addi-
tional intelligence from Alicant 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 machinations of the English.
Mr. BULWER, it is said, has made a formal remon-
strance against these attacks upon England by the
Ministerial 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 on at Madrid. Let them re-
memberof the rebels the_ coast of
vh itchhe arelandin goingg

Galicia a few years ago—the humiliation which our
young QUEEN 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, OLOZAGA. To all this, let us
add the few plausible pretexts that can be found for
rebelling against a young QUEEN who has just as-
sumed the reins of the State—the significant silenee
of the Sovereign of England, who so affection-
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.

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. THIERS, 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 THIERS and
REMUSAT, 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. GUIZOT 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. 40c. ; and the
Fives at 125 f. 75c.
TILE BOURSE—WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21.

First Highest Lowest' Last

Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents. 125 60 125 70 • • 125 60 .. 125 70
Three per Cents. • B2 35 82 35 . • 82 35 82 35
Bank of France• 3.277 50 •• 3277 50 • • 3277 SO • • 3277 50
Laffitte Bank, I,ooof. Sharesllos 1105 . • 1105 .. 1105
5,000 f. Sharesso72 50 5072 50 5072 50 ..5072 50
Belgian Bank .. • • • • ..... • • • 665 • • 665 . • 660 .. 660
1841
Belgian Fives .•••••• • • • • • • 1071 • • 1071 1071 • • 1071
1840 .• •
1842
Spanish Active
Passive •••.••••
Old Deferred. • • 71 • • 71 • • 7/ .. 71
Portuguese Five per Cents • • 451 • • 45. • • 451 • . 451-
Neapolitan •• • • ••• • • • • • 104 50 • • 104 50 • • 104 .. 104
.. 1061 • • 106 .. 106/

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