The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-06 00:00:00

OTAHEITE.

Sir G. GREY wished to put a question to the
First Lord of the Treasury, in reference to that por-
tion of her Majesty's speech which referred to the
discussions which had taken place last year between
her Majesty's Government and the French Govern-
ment, relative to the island of Otaheite. As the close
of last session the Right Hon. Gentleman declined
giving any detailed information as to the nature of the
correspondence which had taken place between thetwo
countri( s, and expressed his intention ofsubmitting to the
House, at a future period, full information on the
subject. Now, without expressing any opinion as to
the course the Government had taken, he might
say, that no man more sincerely rejoiced
than himself, that the dissensions between
the two countries had been so satisfactorily arranged
between the two Governments. He for one would
be extremely unwilling to press for the production of
any correspondence which might tend to create a
feeling of irritation, or foment discord and jealousy
between the two countries. At the same time it could
not be overlooked that this question was exciting a
very warm interest among a very large class of
persons in this country, as it was regarded as of great
importance both to our national honour and interest.
At present the House was in possession of noinforma-
tion except that which they had derived through the
medium of the public newspapers, from documents
that had been submitted to the French Chambers. He
wished to know whether the Right Hon. Gentleman
had any objection to produce the correspondence
which had taken place ?
Sir R. PEEL trusted that, as the correspondence
was of a somewhat delicate nature, the Right Hon.
Gentleman would not press for the production of the
whole of it. Now that the affair had come to a ter-
mination honourable to the two countries, and, he
trusted, satisfactory to all parties, he did hope that he
should not be pressed for the production of the whole of
the documents. He would have the greatest pleasure in
laying before the House the result of those negotia-
tions—that was to say, the two letters of M. Guizot
and the letter of his Noble Friend. He objected to
the production of this correspondence on exclusively
public grounds. It was not necessary for the vindi-
cation of the character of Mr. Pritchard, because
Mr. Pritchard had been originally appointed,
before those differences existed, to a situation
of higher emolument, and which embraced a more
extended sphere of action, and that appointment had
been conferred since these transactions had taken
place. If he were to present the whole of the docu-
ments to the House he would have to present a
correspondence which had taken place between
officers in the naval service of France, and in
the naval service of this country, of a highly
irritating character ; and, as the whole affair
had been amicably settled, he should be exceedingly
srsopeporrnryedseentnocteableivbeuctoombipetdhllaeeidl to produce that correspon-
dence.—(Loud cheers) But that amicable termina-
y
tion had been chiefly brought about, not by corre-
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Any
correspondence,
produced would present but an imperfect record