The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-06 00:00:00

FRANCE-OTAHEITE-MOROCCO.

Sir C. NAPIER had to put a question to the Right
Hon. Baronet (Sir It. Peel) which he hoped it would be
consistent with his duty to answer. In the course of
the session the Right Hon. Baronet had stated, with the
frankness which became a British Minister, that a gross
outrage had been offered to a British subject in Otaheite,
and that he had no doubt the French Government would
disavow the conduct of the Admiral. Since the affair at
Otaheite a French squadron had been employed
upon the coast of Africa, and had bombarded
Tangiers. Another squadron had since been dispatched
to Mogadore, and had taken possession of that place.
Another squadron had been sent to Tunis to prevent the
French fleet from intimidating the Dey. Independently
of that, they had put several new ships in commission,
and augmented their naval force, whilst we were dimi-
nishing ours. We had called home and paid off one of
our ships from Otaheite, and, in the meantime, the
French augmented their force in the South Seas. We
had since paid off two other ships. The question he wished
to ask was, whether France had made any reparation for
the gross outrage at Otaheite ; and, if not, whether we
were to be left in the unprotected state in which we were
in all those places where the French were exercising
their naval forces ?—(A laugh.) The Gallant Commo-
dore then made some allusion to the French seizing the
" Queen," which excited laughter, but was not heard
distinctly in the gallery.
Sir It. PEEL said he would make as frank an an-
swer as he could. With respect to Tangiers there was
no reason to doubt the assurances of the French Go-
vernment, often repeated, respecting Algeria and the
countries adjoining, including, of course, Tanis and Mor-
roco.—(Hear.) With respect to Otaheite, I have to
state, that a discussion has taken place between
her Majesty's Government and the Government of the
King of the French as to the occurrences in that quarter
which were calculated to disturb the friendly relations
of the two Governments, and I have the satisfaction to
state that these discussions have been brought to an
amicable and satisfactory termination. The negotiations
which have passed will be communicated to the House,
and I trust that for the present the House will not ex-
pect me to enter into detail.
Mr. HINDLEY (amidst cries of " Order, order")
begged to ask what was the Right Hon. Baronet's
opinion of the conduct of the French Admiral to Mr.
Pritchard, and whether any reparation had been made
for that conduct ?
Sir R. PEEL—Sir, I have already stated that the dis-
cussions have been brought to an amicable and satisfac-
tory termination—(Hear, hear)—a termination satisfac-
tory to both countries—(Hear, hear)—l mean, per-
fectly consistent with the honour and the interest of both
countries.—(Hear, hear.)
LORD STANLEY.

Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said, that having heard a new
writ moved for in the room of Lord Stanley, he begged
to ask whether the Noble Lord was still at the head of
the Colonial Department ?
Sir ROBERT PEEL said that his Noble Friend's
position in the Cabinet was not in the least affected by
his acceptance of the Chiltern Huudreds.—(dear, hear,
and a laugh.)
➢lr. T. DUNCOMBE said that the answer was
not sufficient, although it was given with such pleasure
and facetiousn'ss by the Right Hon. Baronet. The
Noble Lord held an important office in the Cabinet, and
he thought the people would desire to know why he re-
linquished his seat in Parliament, and, therefore, the
question was a legitimate one.—(Hear, hear.)
Several petitions of course were laid upon the table ;
when

Mr. T. DUNCOMBE, who was interrupted by cries
of " Order, order," said he did not wonder at the im-
patience of Hon. Members opposite, as they must be
tired of wheeling about so much during the past session.
—(A laugh.) Although he knew he had not much
time, as he expected the Black Rod to make his appear-
ance every moment, the motion he had to make was of
importance, and he would take the opportunity that
remained of making it. It was for a copy
of the opinions adduce by the judges on the questions
of law propounded to them in the case of "O'Connell
and others against the Queen," with the copy of the
notes of the short-hand writer appointed to report the
proceedings. Those opinions had already been laid
before the House of Lords, and were by this time circu-
lated throughout the country; and there could be no
objection to produce them in that House. He un-
derstood that Mr. Gurney had taken notes of
those opinions, which, he believed, were cor-
rectly reported by the press; and it would be seen that
some of them reflected the highest credit upon the
judges.—(Hear, hear.) The opinions of one judge (Lord
Denman) ought to be laid on the table and printed in
letters of gold.—(Hear.) It was still recollected what
had taken place in that House last session, and all the
vapouring there had been about " convicted conspira-
tors," and how the Right Hon. Baronet took credit to
himself for having brought the convicted conspirator to
condign punishment; now it proved that he (Mr.O'Connell)
was no conspirator at all—(Hear, hear, cheers, " Oh," and
laughter)—and that they (the Ministers) had been guilty
of the greatest injustice. He (Mr. Duncombe) had been
called to account in that House for having denounced the
manner in which the prosecution of Mr. O'Connell had
been conducted when he laid the petition from his
constituents on the table. It proved now that the only
conspiracy which had existed was concocted in the
Home-office and carried into effect in the Queen's Bench,
Dublin—(Cheers, laughter, and cries of " Oh, oh.")
When he looked at the unfair advantage taken of Mr.
O'Connell—(Cheers)—the fraudulent j urylist—(Cheers)
—the packing of the jury—(Cheers)—the partisanship
of the judge--(Cheers)—the employment of spies and
the suborning of the reporters, he felt that the question
had ended as it ought to end, in the disgrace of those
gentlemen opposite, who had engaged in this conspiracy
against the due administration of the law
and the rights of the Irish people.—(Cheers.) Those
persons had had three months' false imprisonment, and
a vindictive feeling, and a sort of part malice and ma-
lignity were exhibited by the Government towards
those individuals.—(Hear.) When a Bill was submitted
by Lord Campbell to the other House of Parliarcent,
for the purpose of suspending sentence till the validity of
the judgment was ascertained, it was rejected because it
was supposed it might be favourable to Mr. O'Connell
and the other gentlemen who were illegally convicted.
This looked like a vindictive spirit on the part of the
Government, and what the people of this country had
now a right to expect was, what they meant to
do for Ireland—(Cries of " Hear, hear")—what re-
paration and atonement they were to make for the gross
insult offered to the leaders of the Irish people, in whom
they placed their confidence. Talk of the question of
repeal, the Government had promoted and given an
impetus to repeal, which they would find it difficult now
to stop.—(Hear, hear.) They created an impression
among the English people, that if they themselves were
Irishmen they would be repealers, in consequence of the
misrule of the country.—(Cheers.) They had insulted