The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-25 00:00:00

THE, SUN, LONDON,

other, the several questions under discussion—Morocco,
Otaheite, and the right of search ; and I shall examine
how w e have resolved them, in paying att ntion to the
interests, rights, and dignity of each. In the Morocco
affair, our course of conduct was this—we declared pub-
licly what our intentions were. Much has been said of
communications made to the English Government; but
I can declare that I communicated nothing but what I
have already stated. That being done, we reserved to
ourselves the office of transacting our own affairs. We
willingly accepted the good offices of the agents of Eng-
land, but we did not ask for their interference. Great
and efficient instruments were not wanting to effect what
was wanted. Our laud forces were commanded by an
illustrious general, and we can say that Algeria was
twice conquered by Marshal Bugeaud—once in 1830,
and agein from 1841 to 1844. All the means of success
were placed in the hands of the Marshal, and at the
same time we advised the Crown to give the command
of the fleet to the Prince de Joinville. This was as-
suming a grave responsibility, for it is always a grave
matter to intrust a command and the termination of a
political affair to a young Prince. It was greatly so at
that particular juncture, for there is not one of you but
is aware of the use—and allow me to say, of the abuse
—made of the Prince de Joinville's pamphlet on the
state of our navy. That publication was represented as
a mark of against the Cabinet. The noble Prince
had, in fact, been placed in a delicate situation, and we
considered it our duty to afford him the first opportunity
of proving his devotedness to the honour and dignity of
the country, and at the same time his full knowledge of
the policy which suited that country.—(Lead marks of
approbation.) The Prince de Joinville, in publishing
his note, had not intended anything else than to show
himself a good citizen and a sound seaman.
M. Dupin—Every one approved his conduct.
The Minister fur Foreign Affairs—l think M. Dupin
cannot have comprehended my words. When I said
that the Prince intended nothing but to act like a good
citizen and a sound seaman, I evidently had the appear-
ance of speaking in terms of approbation ; but what I
meant was, that his note was misrepresented, and a sense
attributed to his words which they were not intended to
bear. That was what I intended to say, and the appro-
bation of M. Dupin is not, therefore, necessary. The
conduct of the Prince responded to the confidence of
the Government ; but every one must see that the re-
sponsibility was grave for us, and that there was some
merit in incurring it. This being done, our policy re-
specting Morocco clearly defined—all our measures
taken to carry on our affairs ourselves—the commanders
by sea and land placed in complete possession cf all the
means which they required—we conceived that the war
ought to be carried on rapidly, and peace arrived at
promptly. It has been said that we did this on account
of Otaheite—the assertion is false. Were there not such
a place as England in the world—had her interests not
been in any way connected with those of Morocco—the
simple fact of Algeria being deeply concerned in the mat-
ter would have rendered it our duty to arrive promptly
at peace.—(Hear, hear.) I trust that M. Thiers, after
what I have just said, will not reproach us for having
paid undue attention to the legitimate interests of Eng-
land in this circumstance. I shall not at present enter
into the consideration of the clauses of the treaty; they
will be examined hereafter, when the paragraphs are
brought forward. I only wanted to give the Chamber a
general view of the manner in which the affair has been
conceived and conducted. I now come to Otaheite, and
on that matter I have to say that there are several ques-
tions which the Hon. Deputy (M. Thiers), I will not say
confounded, but mingled up together. There is first the
occupation of the Marquesas ; I can say that this ques-
tion was discussed two years back at great length in
this Chamber, and yet M. Thiers preserved silence.
Why, if the taking possession of these islands appeared
to him then an enormous blunder, did he not demand
permission to speak, and declare it? I cannot but think
that his ideas have become considerably modified since
then, otherwise his silence would be inconceivable.—
(Ilear, hear.) But, however the Hon. Gentleman may
have thought on the matter, the Opposition spoke, the
Chamber heard them, and decided the question. The
other Climber also did so, and it was in conse-
quence of the vote of the two Chambers that the
expedition was proceeded with. The Hon. M.
Thiers has confounded dates and facts. The
Government never bad an idea of possessing
itself of Otaheite, and putting France and England in
contact on that point. All it sought for was a desirable
port in those seas. The admiral sent on that expedition
had considered it his duty to assume the protectorate of
Otaheite, of which no mention had been made in his in-
structions. Two reasons determined us not to refuse
what the admiral had done, and the first reason was,
that the protectorate of the island of Otaheite was of
some importance to our establishment in the Marquesas,
and the other, that we did not wish to see the French
flag withdrawn immediately after its appearance.—
(Marks of adhesion) This provisional protectorate, a
proti ctorate not yet sanctioned by the Government, con-
tinued for fourteen months. It had, it is true, met with
difficulties and embarrassments ; but there had not been
anything like tumult or sedition ; everything went on
regularly and peaceably. When, on the contrary, Ad-
miral Dupetit Thonars thought it his duty to convert the
protectorate into a sovereignty, disturbances commenced.
Thus, during the fourteen months of the protectorate,
Mr. Pritchard, who vsias then at Otaheite, was unable to
excite any insurrection; it was after the assumption of the
sovereignty that he was able to do so. The Government,
therefore, were not so much to blame when, after having
accepted the protectorate, it refused the sovereignty ;
the former appeared to it necessary to protect the
interests of France, for which the latter was useless.
I now come to the last incident, that of Mr. Pritchard.
You will remember the strong sensation created in Eng-
land on the receipt of the news of his arrest ; this emo-
tion appeared to me to proceed from two causes—first,
the quality of agent of the English Government, with
which he was invested ; and, next, his religious charac-
ter. The conduct adopted by us in this matter was this
—we first sought to establish the truth of the facts of the
case ; to prove that Mr. Pritchard was not an official
agent, but a simple foreigner, living under the protection
of a law common to all. Had he been a consul, there
would have been certain forms to be observed with re-
gard to him, when desiring his expulsion ; but he was
not consul, and the truth of these facts we have been
able to prove to the English Government. As to his re-
ligious character, we have also established that he has
nothing to complain of at our hands ; we have proved
that the most perfect religious liberty prevailed in
Oceania. This was done, we remained quiet, in order to
allow the angry feelings which had been raised in Eng-
land to subside. When the proper moment arrived to
examine the affair to its foundation, what was the con•
duct of the Government ? We fully maintained the
right of the French authorities at Otaheite to expel any
foreigner who shall disturb public order. After having
supported this right, we maintained that our agents at
Otaheite had just reasons for using it ; and that they had
acted properly in so doing. After this, we made the ad-
mission that some of the conduct used towards Mr.
Pritchard was open to blame, and to be regretted, for it
could not be admitted that French agents should, in any
quarter of the globe, forget those maxims of equity and
consistency which were the rule of all regular Govern-
ments.(Exclamations on the Left.) Our conviction
was, that in the arrest of Mr. Pritchard some of those
maxims had been departed from, and I will explain in
what those ,acts consisted. Without entering into any
irritating details, we considered that although there was
enough in the circumstances of the case to warrant the
authorities in taking every measure for their safety, yet
that it was unnecessary to keep Mr. Pritchard in soli-
tary confinement for eight days, and prevent his seeing
even his wife and children. ' We thought that it was
neither just nor proper to use more severity than was
really necessary. We considered that the step which
had been ordered by the admiral on his arrival at Ota-
heite six days after should have been done at the time,
viz., to compel Mr. Pritchard to leave the island. In
saying this I do not mean to shelter the Governer ent be-
hind the Governor of Otaheite, for that would be neither
honourable nor just. They had no such intention. M.
de Bruat was one of its most intelligent and bravest
officers. He every day gave proofs of that. We have
admitted that there were certain points connected with
this affair for which it was honourable in us to express
our regret and our disapproval, and we, at the same time,
thought that there might exist reasons why a pecuniary
indemnity should be granted.—(Mermurs on the Left.)
The Chamber sees that I do not avoid any point con-
nected with the question.—(Approbation.) Indepen-
dently of the rules of which I have spoken, there is a fact
of which I will remind the Chamber. Some years before
this affair two French Catholic missionaries had been ex-
pelled from Otaheite. Those missionaries had gone to
that island under a Government which forbad any preach-
ing contrary to the established religion of the State.—
(Movement.) The will of. Queen Pomare is the charter of
that country. The missionaries who went to preach at
Otaheite acted at variance with that law, and it was in
virtue of it that they were expelled from the island.
Violence had, it is true, been used towards them,
but two years after Admiral Dupetit Thouars had de-
manded and received an indemnity of 2,.500 piastres for
the treatment they had experienced. The admiral was
perfectly right in what he did, but it served as a prece-
dent for the French granting an indemnity to Mr. Prit
chard. At the same time, however, that we agreed to
this indemnity, it was expressly stipulated that it was
not given on account of his expulsion, but merely in
consequence of the harsh treatment to which he had
been subjected. It would be weakness in them to deny
that they were glad that this indemnity had been the
means of removing the elouds which had hung over their
relations with England, but they should at the same
time have granted the indemnity had no political con-
siderations been connected with the affair. This, gen-
tlemen, is what I have to say on the ensemble of the
question. At a future time I shall enter more into de-
tails. I will now say a word as to the conduct of the
English Government with regard to the affair of Mo-
rocco. It was made known to us how far its interests
might be involved in it; it strengthened its force on that
station, but at the same time kept it below our own, to
make it apparent that it only sought to protect the
legitimate interests of the country. This done, it entered
into our complaints, and both at Tangier and elsewhere
represented those complaints to be just, and our demands
moderate; it did more, it tendered to us its good offices.
In fine, the English Government accepted a situation
which was difficult and delicate for it—that of being
present and watching our success; and it had the good
feeling to wait to see what we considered it just and
proper to do. We well knew what were the feelings of
England on the subject, but she demanded nothing of us.
Do you imagine that, if affairs had been taken iu another
spirit, they would have taken the turn they have done?
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,LtAohfriyds
is," writes the British Minister on this occasion,
" that the sincere desire of the two Governments to cniti-
vate the best and most cordial understanding renders it
almost impossible that incidents of this nature, if they
are viewed dispassionately, and treated in a spirit of
justice and moderation, can ever lead to anything but an
amicable and happy issue.,, This, gentlemen, is the