The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-02 00:00:00

ADDRESS.

From the Non-Electors of Salisbury to the Liberal Bur-
gesses of St. Martin's and Saint Thomas's Wards in this City,
" Fellow-Citizens,—The contest on the occasion of the re-
cent municipal elections have afforded you the opportunity
of displaying the high principle which has put our victorious
opponents to the blush, and rendered us under the obligation
of thus tendering to you our most sincere and heartfelt
thanks.

" You have acted manfully and nobly, and though you
have only fulfilled your duty, you have done so under such
circumstances as to confer an honour on our common cause,
and yourselves .in connection with it, in the estimation of
every honest man. When those who from their previous
professions, their stations in society, and their comparative
independence, ought to have led you on to victory, deserted
their standard and sheltered themselves under the false ex-
cuse—" expediency," you, the men who depend for the
means of supporting.yourselves and families on the precarious
profits of business, boldly fought your own battle, and though
defeated, still remain unconquerable.
" We would urge upon you the necessity of standing the
ground so firmly maintained, and persevering in that course
which must ultimately end in success. You will be perse-
cuted, but you will receive the reward of honesty; a contented
mind ; and should your faithfulness incur even the extreme
penalty—poverty, be assured that those men who may be the
authors of it cannot embitter that glorious feast which the
actions of a righteous man continually present before him.
" At the same time that we urge upon you the necessity
of persevering in the paths of duty and justice, we would
not fox get that the result of your conduct will equally affect
yourselves and us in common with the whole nation ; we
cannot be unconscious that, if you fall, we fall in conse-
quence ; we therefore deem it our duty to unite, as a body,
to support those who may be punished by unprincipled men,
whose contracted ideas cannot conceive a duty so exalted as
the good of society apart from personal advantage.
" Though we cannot individually command opulence suffi-
cient to offer you the same base compromising terms which
our opponents would have you to imagine at their command,
yet we flatter ourselves that our number is so much greater
than their's, as to enable us to defy comparison.. And let us
not be misunderstood. .We. scorn to offer our united pa-
tronage as a bribe, but we hold it up as an indemnity to the
present persecuted. honest man."
Signed on behalf of the meeting of non-electors, held at
the Wheat Sheaf Inn. this 21st Feb., 18441
• W. H. ELKINS, Chairman.
The reading. of this document elicited great applause.
Other speeches followed, and the meeting separated atuse.
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AFFAIRS OF OTAHEITE.
FRENCH CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES.
SITTING OF FEB. 29.

The motion of M. Carnci being the first order of the day,
brought together great crowds.
After some routine business, M. Cara mounted the tribune
and said, the Chamber, in 1842, had been divided in itN opi-
nions relative to the new colonies. Some regarded them as
useless and dangerous acquisitions. Others, again, regarded
them as valuable. This opinion was formed between the two
extremes, and what should now influence the Chamber in
maintaining the French flag in the Society Islands was a sen-
timent of national honour. The French flag had been planted
on the soil of the Pacific, and it should not be withdrawn-
The Honourable Deputy then read the various documents
laid on the table, and continued to state that Queen
Pomare, led away by the presents which she had
received from the English Government, and by the
instigations of that Government, had refused to abide
by the treaty of the proteetorate of September. 18. The diffi-
culty which had arisen had been laid to the fault of dgrown.
He should be curious to know whether the French hag, had
ever been-removed. _ . _

Admiral de Mackau here rose, and said that the flag of the
protectorate, consisting of the old flag of Otaheite and the
French tricoloured flag united, had remained hoisted over
the island during the fourteen ,months which followed the
conclusion of the treaty, of the 9th of September, 1842.4, The
Queen had besides a fancy ilag flying over her residence, on
which figured, not a closed crown, but a crown of the moE
inoffensive nature, for it was formed of interwoven leaves of
the cocoa-nut tree; and the only difference between At Da-
petit Thouars and the Queen was, that the former required
that she should substitute for those cocoa-nut leaves either
red or white stars.—(Laughter.)
M. de Cara next resumed, and proceeded to justify the
susceptibility of the Admiral, and his indignation at not see-
ing unfurled on the Royal residence the flag which he had
left there a year before. He then blamed the conduct of Mi-
nisters, who waited ten days before publishing their dis-
avowal, and contended that it had been evidently an act
dictated by the English Government.
M. Guizot, after repelling the charge of having yielded to
a foreign influence, described the real position of France at
Otaheite in virtue of the treaty of the 9th of September, 1842,
by which the Admiral had merely and provisionally accepted,
in the name of King Louis Philippe, the Protectorate of the
Society Islands. On receipt of that document the Minister
of Marine, he said, had forwarded instructions, on the 28th
of April, 1843, to the Admiral and to M. Bruat, the Governor
of the Marquesas, and " Commissioner" of the King at
Otaheite, from which it would be seen that the latter was
recommended to have a perfect understanding With the
Queen and the Chiefs on all domestic affairs, and to attend
to the strict execution of the treaty. They had received
no instruction calculated to justify the measure to r'
the Admiral had had recourse. After signing the trea,v
the Admiral repaired to the western coast of America,
and was absent an entire year. During his absence
the English missionaries had exerted themselves to
prevail on the Queen and the Chiefs to elude the exe-
cution of the treaty. They had been abetted in their
intrigues by some of the naval officers of the British station.
In the mean time, however, the English Government having
notified to France that it would not oppose the establishment
of the French in the Society Islands; the English missionaries
and officers, who had acted as they did, because they were
ignorant of the intentions of their Government, no sooner
heard of this decision, than they altered their course. Cap-
tain Nicholas, who commanded a British frigate off Papaiti,
and had countenanced the proceedings of the missionaries,
had been recalled by his Admiral six weeks before the return
of M. Dupetit Thouars, who found off the island the Dublin
frigate, whose captain, by his peaceable demeanour, gave
him no subject of complaint. The Admiral had no difficiilty
to encounter which could not have been surmounted, without

having recourse to force, by a little moderation and wisdom.
Queen Pomard and the chiefs did not resist the execution of
the treaty, and no obstacles ,thereto had been raised by the
English. The Admiral had committed an egregious error in
starting the question of the flag, and deported himself nei-
ther with prudence nor wisdom throughout the affair. There
were then three banners unfurled on Otaheite—the trico-
loured flag, the flag of the protectorate, and the personal
or domestic flag of the Queen, which she had a right to hoist
in virtue of her sovereignty, which she had not abdicatedby
the treaty. The Admiral had a right to demand the execu-
tion of the treaty, whether she had signed it voluntarily or
under the impression of fear, and he was not justified in tay-
ing forcible possession of her dominions. Under those cir-
cumstances, the Government conceived that the Admiral had
exceeded his powers, and did not hesitate to disavow him.
There was nothing in the instructions addressed to him or to
M. Brunt, nor in the facts or circumstances in which they
found affairs at Otaheite, to justify the military occupation
of the Society Islands. No plea of necessity, utility, or jus-
tice, could be invoked to justifythat act M. Guizot vindi-
cated himself against the charge of having yielded on this
occasion to the injunctions of England. He denied that such
had been the case, declared that the resolution of the Cabinet
had been spontaneous, and adopted before entering into any
communication on the subject with the British Government,
and officially, positively, and completely denied all assertion to
the contrary. They had acted with the same independence
which had presided at the decision of the British Cabinet
when the latter refused to sanction the taking possession of
the Sandwich Islands. The French Cabinet had not been in-
fluenced by what had been said on the subject of Otaheite in
the British Parliament. It was a calumny which he indig-
nantly repelled. He felt proud to have re-established the
good understanding with England, and exerted himself in
maintaining it, but it was at the cost of no sacrifice. His great
object had invariably been to maintain friendly relations and
a cordial understanding with Great Britain, but he had,
nevertheless, been guilty of no act of weakness, nor subscribed
, to a concession to secure _

Billault, who succeeded M. Guizot, complained of the
insufficiency ,of the documents communicated by the Minis-
ters, and expressed surprise at the Admiral only devoting the
few lines produced to the account of so important an event
as the occupation of Otaheite. '
Admiral de Blacken here interrupted M. Billault, and de-
clared, on his honour, that the dispatches deposited in the
archives of the House were the only ones he had received by
the Elizabeth whaler.
M. Billauli next iesumed, and was left speaking.

'ISM:LONGER& AND POULTERERS' B ENEVQLEI4T
IN-
STITUTION.—The ninth annual general meeting of the above
Institution was held, on Thursday evening, at Anderton's
Hotel, Fleet-street, for the purpose of receiving the financial
and general Retort for;the last year, with an account of the
petitions for relief, and also to elect officers for the present
year. The meeting was most numerously attended ; and, in
the absence of M. W. Attwood, Esq., the president, Mr
Kenneth presided. The Report set forth that the funded
stock amounted to 2,750/. ; the subscriptions and donations
of the past year, including the balance in the banker's hands,
the produce of the theatrical benefit in October last, etc-,
amounted to 480/. 6s. Bd., which, after defraying the neces-
sary expenses, left a balance (in addition to the capital
stock) of 78/. 7s. sd. It was further stated that the presstire
of the times and other circumstances had diminished the
amount of subscriptions, while the theatrical benefit, which,
in 1839, had yielded a profit of 123/. 125., had last year
d c present
their
agreeing lo dwindled down to 3/. 16s. ;. it was consequently deter-
minede and the
subscriptions, majority of t
:thosein
to discontinue the theatrical benefits, steam excursions,
balls, B'c
friends to do the like. The various officers havingbeen elected,
and the other business having been completed, votes of thank
thdoeu Cobleminth itti
re e
were awarded to the past officers and to the chair Of th
evening, And the meeting kola up.