The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-23 00:00:00

THE ABOVE HEADS.

Total. Weekly Average
of Five Years.
Consumption 146 147
Scarlatina 45 36
Pneumonia .

Dropsy . ... 29 33
Hooping Cough 24 33
Typhus
Small Pox 54 20
Disease of the Heart

Measles

Apoplexy 0000000000 ... ..•• ••• 21 19
Diseases of the Brain ...... .... 7 10

Diarrhoea..
Sudden Deaths ll 15
DISTRICTS. - _

---
Deaths Weekly Births
in Average of in
the Week. FlveYears. the Week.
West . 146 142 179
North 2OB 176 221
Central
East 2OB 209 306
south

••••••••• N.....
.....,
Total . . 1010 963 1351

JERSEY.--A meeting of the committee for the
defence of the island was held yesterday morning at the
residence of his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor.
The colonels of the several militia regiments of the
island were present. Measures for immediately com-
pleting the arsenals were resolved upon. The new
militia fittings, accoutrements, &c., will be sent to the
island as soon as the Lieutenant-Governor reports that
the arsenals are completed, and ready and fit to receive
them. They may, therefore, be expected in a few weeks.
—Jersey tier* Jan, 19.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—The Tories tell us that they are better men
of business than the Whigs. That Sir Robert Peel
is a clever man, though a treacherous one to his own
party, cannot be denied, and none of his acts prove it
more than his adjustment of the timber duties; but
the Board of Customs is defeating his object of en-
couraging the importation of timber in the bulk in
preference to that of deals or planks. By a ridiculous
mode of measurement, deals or planks above twenty-
one feet long pay less duty per load than shorter
deals, thus sacrificing revenue in a most unnecessary
manner. I believe an enormous amount of revenue is
wasted by the incompetency of the Board in this,
as well as many other matters.
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
W. R.

FRANCE AND OTAHEITE.
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS.
The two following documents have been communi-
cated to the Chambers by the Minister of Marine.
The first relates to the Gambier Islands; and the
second gives some details respecting the intercourse
established with the chief of Wallis's Islands :
" NOTE ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE RELATIONS
OF FRANCE WITH THE CHIEFS AND POPULATION OF
THE GAMBIER ISLANDS.

" The French Catholic missionaries, established for
the last ten years in this little archipelago, have been
fully successful amongst the chiefs and inhabitants,
whom they instruct and direct, without hindrance, in
a course of moral culture, and by the most pacific
means. This state of things, which was perfectly
well known at the departure of Captain Bruat for
Oceania, has caused those islands to be designated, in
the instructions given to that officer, as part of those
over which the Protectorate of France could be most
easily established. It is in consequence of these in-
structions, and on the occasion of the frigate Charte
anchoring at one of those islands, that the captain of
the vessel was present on February 16, 1844, at a
formal declaration made by the principal chiefs, of
their intention to place themselves and their territory
under the protection of the French authority. This
act was not followed by any military occupation, nor
by the installation of any administrative agent. The
French missionary, the Rev. Father Liausie, was
recognised by the head of this little society. The
instructions addressed by Admiral de Mackau to
Governor Bruat, under date of July 16, 1844, formally
recommend him to abstain from all proceedings that
might tend to engage the King's Government farther
than what was already accomplished. Before deciding
on any decisive part with respect to this simple recog-
nition of the French authority in these islands, it
appears indispensable to wait for new reports, and the
conclusion, more or less speedy, of the difficulties
which have arisen in other points. The group of the
Gambier Islands, situated windward of the Society
Archipelago, and possessing a good port, is but thinly
inhabited. The Methodist missionaries have not
attempted to penetrate there, and have left the inha-
bitants wholly to the influence of the French mis-
sionaries."

" INTERCOURSE ESTABLISHED WITH THE CHIEFS OF

THE WALLIS ISLANDS.

" In the month of November, 1824, the Embuscade
corvette, Captain Mallet, had to put in to the Wallis
Islands for some pressing repairs, which kept the
vessel for forty days in the principal port of the islands.
There the King and the principal chiefs, having de-
clared that they made a profession of the Catholic
faith, in which they had been instructed by the Rev.
Father Bataillon, Bishop of Enos, and several other
French missionaries residing amongst them, mani-
fested their intention to place themselves under the
protection of our flag. The effects of the great influence
exercised over the inhabitants by our missionaries, to
whom they are entirely devoted, are manifest in this
circumstance. The Rev. Father Bataillon, established
amongst them for seven years, has reaped the happiest
fruits of his apostolic care ; the public morals have
become considerably ameliorated ; polygamy has
ceased, except with two of the chiefs; the population
of the archipelago, composed of 3,000 souls, are re-
markable for their exemplary habits of order and re-
gularity. Captain Mallet, perceiving that the state of
this young society was so satisfactory, concluded with
the King and the chiefs a treaty—a certain harbour
regulation, having for its object to assume a general
regulation as favourable as possible to the strangers
that should visit the islands, and these regulations
were decided on with the concurrence of the English
and American trading captains, in a meeting held for
the purpose. Nothing exclusively applicable to
French vessels was stipulated in the clauses of these
regulations, and no act of authority to be exer-
cised in the name of France was amongst the
number of the conditions agreed on. Neither
was the national flag raised on any point of this
little archipelago, and Captain Mallet confined himself
to allow the chiefs to display a mixed flag, chosen by
the missionaries, and the colours of which could only
call to mind the fact of the participation of an officer
of the French navy in the manifestations on the part
of the chiefs. The instructions addressed to Captain
Bruat by Admiral Roussin, dated July 20, 1843,
contained, amongst other instructions on this subject,
the following:—' The declarations transmitted by
Captain Mallet imply, on the part of the chiefs, no
alienation of sovereignty. They must not lead us on
to form an establishment in this archipelago, nor even
to engage us to keep up there permanently a vessel of
the State,' &c. In the new instructions sent to Ad-
miral Hamelin on July 16th, 1844, by Admiral de
Mackau, in reference to those just quoted, the Minis-
ter prescribed to restrict still more the protection to
be exercised at these islands, and confined its action
to friendly relations ; to visits which our vessels might
be able to pay them from time to time to support the
moral influence of our missionaries, but without any
active intervention of any kind in the affairs of the
country. Such is the situation of our present rela-
tions with the chiefs of these islands, and such have
been the results that were proved to exist beyond all
possibility of conflicts or difficulties from without,
when the Bucephale corvette put in and remained
there in November and December, 1843."

ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—A vast
number of workmen have been incessantly employed
ever since the close of last season in effecting the most
extensive improvements and alterations in all parts of
the grounds. Nor has the Zoological department been
forgotten. The collection has lately been materially in-
creased. In fact, the visitors to these delightful gardens
will hardly be able to recognise them in their improved
and extended state.

ENTERTAINMENT AT TIIE MANSION-HOUSE.---The
Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress gave a very ele-
gant entertainment to his brother Aldermen and their
ladies, and to some of the municipal officers and their
ladies, on Tuesday. There were amongst those present,
Aldermen Lucas, Sir Peter Laurie, Farebrother, Kelly,
Wilson, Marshall, Sir John Pixie, Humphery, Sir G.
Carrol, Farncomb, Hooper, Wood, Johnson, Challis,
Hughes Hughes, Moon, Hunter, Sidney (Sheriffs), the
Chamberlain, Wm. Maz...terman, M.P., the City Solicitor,
Mr. Secondary James, Mr. Secondary Potter, the Town
Clerk, the Comptroller, &c., &c. It was a full-dress
party, and all the Aldermen came in their scarlet gowns.
The company assembled in the state drawing rooms, and
went from thence through the saloon to the long par-
lour, in which the dinner was laid out in remarably
fine style. All the massive gold and silver plate of the
Mansion-house decorated the sideboard, and the great
silver epergne, which was presented by the Board of
Guardians of the City of London Union to the Lord
Mayor, as Chairman of the Board, stood on the middle
of the top cross table. The wines, which were most
abundantly supplied and freely partaken of, were of the
finest description. Tea and coffee were served in the
saloon. The company separated at eleven.
NEW Wottx oN TURKEY.—We are requested to
state that Mr. Colburn, of Great Marlborough-street, has
this day published " Three Years in Constantinople ;
or, Domestic Manners of the Turks," by Charles White,
Esq., 3 vols., with numerous illustrations, price 31s. 6d.
bound, which can now be had of all booksellers. Mr.
Colburn has also just published the following new
works :—Travels in Turkey, Egypt, the Holy Land,
Syria, Nubia, &c., in 1843-44, by Ida, Countess Hahn-
Hahn, 3 vols., 31s. 6d. bound.-3. Adventures of an
Officer in the Service of Runjeet Singh, by Major Law-
rence, Bengal Artillery, 2 vols., with portraits, 21s.
bound.-4. The Crescent and the Cross ; or. Romance
and Realities of Eastern Travels, by Eliot Warburton,
Esq., 2 vols., with illustrations, 255. bound.-5. Colonel
Maxwell's Adventures, 2 vols., with portraits, 21s. bound.
HER MAJESTY'S STEAM-VESSEL THUNDERBOLT,
ICHABOE, Nov. 20, 1844.—The island of Ichaboe is dis-
appearing fast ; there are at this present moment about
380 vessels here, and arriving five or six of a day, one-
half of which will not get loaded. I should think it will
ruin a great many vessels of 1,000 and 1,500 tons, lying
here—several vessels have been wrecked on the coast
that we have heard of, and been to their assistance, and
we suppose a great many that we have had no intelli-
gence of, except from pieces of wreck and boats having
been seen on the coast by vessels arriving here. We leave
this for the Cape about the Ist or 2d of December. I
hope we may then have a trip to the Mozambique, to
make a little more prize-money.—Devonport Telegraph.
Mr. Dyke, the son of Sir P. H. Dyke, has been
appointed to the lucrative situation of Queen's Proctor,
vacant by the demise of Mr. Iltid Nicholl. The annual
average of the present fees of office, on a moderate com-
putation, is 2,000/.—formerly they were much larger.
During the war, when the condemnation of prizes, and
other proceedings connected with international law, to
which the Crown was a party, occupied the Admiralty
Court, the fees of the Crown Proctor have been known to
amount to between 30,000/. and 40,0001.
NARROW ESCAPE FROM SUFFOCATION IN A
SEWER.—On Tuesday three excavators, in the service
of the Commissioners of Sewers for the county of Surrey,
proceeded down one of the iron gratings facing the Old
King's Head public-house, Blackfriars-road, for the pur-
pose of cleaning out the sewer, and when they had gone
about 150 yards, the foul air became so powerful that
they were about to return, but found that it was utterly
impossible. They accordingly called loudly for help,
when a young man named Maris, a blacksmith, residing
at No. 17, Surrey-row, Blackfriars-road, hearing their
cries for help, very promptly procured a crow-bar, and
dug up the flooring at the end of his back yard and re-
leased the poor fellows, two of whom were quite men,
Bible, but recovered after a glut time.