The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-23 00:00:00

ROYAL COMMISSION.

Sir A. Clifford, Usher of the Black Rod, appeared
at the table, and summoned the House to the House of
Lords to hear the Royal Assent, given by Commission,
to several Bills.

The SPEAKER, accompanied by several Members, then
proceeded to the other House. On his return,
The SPEAKER announced that the Royal Assent had
been given to several Bills, (for which see Lords' report).
Dr. BOWRING withdrew the motion which he had
on the paper for the 2d of April, relative to our treaty
o commerce with the Ottoman empire.
COlOllBl WOOD gave notice that, on going into Com-,

mittee on the Commons Inclosure Bill, he would move
the adoption of resolutions to the effect, that it was ex-
pedient to have a Board consisting of a superintendent
and two vice-superintendents, to whom (as we under-
stood) the subject should be referred.
WRECKS OF THE NERBUDDA AND ANN.

Dr. BOWRING put the question, of which ho had
given notice—Whether any reply has been received from
the Government of Pekin, in answer to the application
made for the punishment of the authorities of the Island
of Formosa, who ordered the murder of the crews of the
Nerbudda and Ann ? Two hundred of the crews of these
vessels fell into the hands of the natives, and were treated
with great cruelty by them, the greater proportion of
them being subsequently murdered. He wished to know
whether any redress had been obtained or promised
for this outrage. It was understood that the na-
tive authorities had been advanced in rank by the
Emperor of China ; he wished to know if any punish-
ment was likely to be inflicted on them for this violation
of the laws of nations and humanity.
Sir R. PEEL said he believed the statement of the
Hon. Gentleman was substantially correct. Two Bri-
tish vessels were wrecked on, the coast of Formosa,
and after the sailors and passengers had been
detained a consider able time, and suffered.
great privations, many of them were put to death. Sir
H. Pottinger made a representation to the Emperor of
China, stating that the British Government viewed the
transaction with great regret, and trusted that signal
punishment Would be inflicted on the authorities of the
island. He must -say that he thought the statement
of the Emperor in reply to him was a very satisfactory
one, and worthy of a ruler- of a great country. A
proclamation was inserted in the Pekin Gazette, of which
Sir Henry Pottin;er spoke in high terms. He stated
he had seen with great pleasure the d. cree•of the Em-
peror on the subject of the British subjects who were
put to death on the island of Formosa, and he 'was

sure it would be received with great satisfaction
by his Government. That proclamation he (Sir
.Robert Peel) thought exhibited as great a desire
to do justice as he had ever seen on the part of a civi-
lised State. The Emperor alleged in the proclamation
that he had been entirely deceived by the Chinese
authorities of Formosa, who stated that the crews of the
ships landed with arms in their hands, and were
taken as prisoners of war. He had ordered
an inquiry into their conduct, and finding
that they had deceived him, he - .had ordered
all who had obtained a promotion of rank by their false
representations to be degraded from it, and to
be handed over to the Board of Punishment,
The Emperor had therefore disgraced all the parties
concerned, and had caused them to be removed
for the purpose of being tried by the regular
authorities, and having such further punish-
ment inflicted upon them as their crime
served. Now he really thought, upon the whole, this
proclamation was all that could be expected. They there
saw the advantage of increased intercourse between '
civilised countries.
INCENDIARY FIRES.

Colonel FOX begged to ask the Right Hon. Gentle-
man the Secretary of State for the Home Department,
whether any steps had been taken by the Government in
consequence of the numerous incendiary fires which had
recently taken place in Suffolk. It was well known that
several such fires had taken place. The Hon. Gentle-
man then read an extract from an address delivered by
the Chairman of Quarter Sessions, in which he expressed
his astonishment that the rural police had not been able
to detect any of the offenders.
Sir J. Gil &HAM said it was undoubtedly true that
several incendiary fires had taken place in Suffolk within
a recent period, and that, though every attempt
had been made, no offender had as yet been discovered.
Although the crime might be frequent, it was still
difficult of detection. He had thought it necessary
to send some assistance to the rural police from the me •
tropolitan force, but he was sorry to say that, up to the
present time no detection had taken place.
Lord HENNIKER rose amidst loud cries of " Order,
order," but was at length allowed to proceed. He
said the fires in the county which he had the
honour to represent—namely, Suffolk—were so fre-
quent, that it was matter of wonder when there were
none.—(Hear, hear.) He himself had been called up at
two o'clock in the morning, and had witnessed a most
awful conflagration. He believed that one fire had taken
place yesterday ; but it was quite true that, up to that
moment, not one of the offenders had been detected.