The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-22 00:00:00

OTAHEITE.

Extract of a letter froth her Majesty's ship Carys-
oft, off Otaheite, July 13, 1844 :—" We arrived off
here on the 11th, after a long passage of forty-two
days from Valparaiso, owing to light winds. We
find here the Salamander and Basilisk. The natives
are in arms, and have confined the French to a
mere strip of land adjoining the harbour of
Papeete, about five or six miles in length by
perhaps an average breadth of half a mile. These
half-armed poor creatures have had one severe,
and several partial actions with their oppressors;
in the first, the French stormed and took a native
fort, at a sacrifice of some 65 men hors de combat,
while the natives' loss is estimated at perhaps 200. In
all the smaller actions the natives have not come off
second best, and the French have in killed and wounded
upwards of 250 men. In a partial engagement which
took place between a party of natives and the rear-
guard of the French troops, one of the missionaries
(Mr. M'Kean) was accidentally shot by a native.
He died on the instant, and has-left a most amiable
wife with two children to lament him. I had, when
here before, formed an acquaintance with him which
had ripened into a degree of intimacy, which gave me
opportunity of estimating the value of his pure and
powerful mind. His religion was not put on, neither
was it introduced unseasonably in conversation, but a
man more enthusiastic in the cause for which he
laboured, I think it would be hard to find. As far
as we are capable of judging, I should say that few
were found better prepared than my lamented ac-
quaintance. The rest of the missionaries have been
obliged to leave their stations and assemble in Papeete
—all their labours for the present ended. Indeed,
I am afraid that, under any circumstances, the poor
deluded natives will never be brought lock to their
former comparatively innocent state ; and the mis-
sions will have a most up-hill task for the next
ten or twelve years, to eradicate the mischief sown
by the French. Poor Pomare, the ex-Queen, after
being on board the Basilisk for protection since
the 30th of January, (only fourteen days after
the Dublin left the island), embarks on board
the Carysfort this day for the small island of Bora
Bora, the king of which place was formerly her hus-
band, but divorced; the natives of this place will, I have
little doubt, take good care of her, and she will then ,
be more at her ease and less exposed to vexatious in-
terference; it would have been impracticable to have
kept her on board a man-of-war, as she expects to be
confined shortly. She is a most superior woman (for a
demi-savage that is), and has kept up a dignity in all
her transactions, though placed in such very difficult
circumstances, which has surprised every one.
She still trusts implicitly in the interference of
England on her behalf, and shame will it be to us

if we prove unworthy of the trust. The French have
a frigate of 30 guns moored in a harbour on the
S.W. side of the island, with boarding-nettings nearly
up to her tops ! dreading these roused islanders ; there
is a frigate of 64, and a steamer of 6 guns in Papeete,
and about 1,000 men landed at the latter place,
and strongly entrenched. They have declared them-
selves in a state of siege—no boat moves after seven
A.m.; no one is allowed to sleep on shore belonging to
the ships, and they are harassed to death with guards,
&c. Ihe insurgent natives last week came down in
some force to within a mile of the village, and burnt
the Roman Catholic priest's house, which cost Johnny
Crapaud in building, some 2,0001. sterling. Altoge-
ther they are sick of their colonies in the Pacific,
which have been considerably more trouble than profit
to them, and would, I believe, be very glad to have
orders from Europe to resign them.—Devonport Te-
legraph.

CONTEMPLAT ED TARIFF
REFORM.
FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
An important document has just been printed. Only
fifty copies of it have been issued from the press, and
these are said to be intended only for the members of
the Privy Council. The document is of great length,
and forms more than 200 folio pages. The object of
it is to show the operation of Sir Robert Peel's tariff.
It contains statements, in columns, of the Customs
receipts upon each article imported for each of the
four years receding the new tariff. It contains also
a similar statement of the receipts since that tariff
came into operation. The advocates of free trade
will rejoice to learn that the gross receipts for a year
under the new tariff exceed those of any other of the
four years accounted for by one hundred thousand
pounds. The receipts upon some articles of import
are ludicrously illustrative of the absurdity of the
duties levied. Some articles have yielded not more
than twopence, and several have not yielded more
than sixpence or a shilling. The document contains
a separate classification of all articles which have not
yielded to the revenue one hundred pounds, and it is
intimated that the duty upon all of these will be re-
commended by the Premier for abolition. A still
further reduction upon the tariff generally is con-
templated, and the various classifications of articles in
the document referred to; intimate that great changes
are contemplated, although they afford no clue to the
Premier's intentions. The greatest secrecy has been
observed with regard to this important paper, upon
which Sir Robert Peel, no doubt, intends to base his
tariff alterations for the ensuing session.—Chronic e.