The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-26 00:00:00

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OCCUPATI

The following appears in the Journal des DINA! :
" Roads of Papaiti, Nov. 9, 1843,
" Oti hoard of the Uranie.
" On the 4th of this month. We arrived in the bay
of. Papaiti, the same day as the frigate Danae,- and
three days before the frigate Reine Blanche. On the
next day the following order appeared :
" The Vice-Admiral in command of the station of
the Pacific Ocean informs the commanding officers
and crews of vessels in the roads of Papaiti, that the
Queen T'...nare refusing obstinately to recognise the
treaty concluded on the 9th of September, 1842, and
ratified by his Majesty Louis Philippe, he is com-
pelled to declare that the Queen Pomare has ceased
to reign over the Society Islands and their inhabi-
tants, and to take possession of the islands in the
name of the King of France. In consequence the
frigate tlmnie will debark to-marrow morning, at
six, the company. of Marine Artillery, and the men
dependent on that service,' &c.
" I will now explain to you the circumstances
hich have so much changed the position of the
cespective.parties to the last treaty.
" It appeared that nothing more was wanted to
he treaty of the 9th of November, signed by Queen
Pomare, and by the Commander-in-Chief of the
French Forces, to make it valuable and executable in
all its clauses, but the signature of the King of the
French. Mr. Pritchard, missionary, and merchant,
and Consul of the British Government, did not iiiter-
fere .with, the negotiations, and he even disavowed
the acts of his representative. It seems, how-
ever, that the Queen of Tahiti had exceeded
the powers which the methodist merchant had
left her in his absence. In fact Mr. Pritchard
was in London When the treaty was concluded. But
even his long acquaintance with the country, and
• his observations, as a journal of New Holland seri-
ously said, of French manoeuvres among the South
Sea Islands,' inspired him with fears for the inde-
Lndence of Tahiti, and he communicated them to
ord Aberdeen and to his colleagues. The English
Cabinet did not, however, pay much attention td the
representation of Mr. Pritchard, and it limited itself
to sending,'as a mark of kindness to the Otaheitean
Government, a carriage for Pomare, and a coat of red
cloth for her husband. •
" Mr. Pritchard leaves Englttnd with his feariand
his presents. He arrived at Sydney, and there
!earned what had passed : under the inspirSion of the
chiefs which surrounded her, and of her olaest and
wisest counsellors, the Queen of Otaheite had placed
herself under the protection of the French. Govern-
ment. On hearing this disastrous intelligence, Mr.
Pritchard did not lose a moment in hastening to re-
gain the power which had escaped him. He ob-
tained from the Governor of New Holland,. Sir Geo.
.3ribbs, a large sum of money, intended for the pur-
-lase of additional presents, and he succeeded in
obtaining a promise from Commodore Nicholas, com-
mander of the Vindictive, of recalling the French to
national good faith with irresistible arguments.
" Strong in menaces and in seduction, Mr. Pritchard
embarked on board the Vindictive, and arrived at
Tahiti, where it did not take much time, nor many
efforts, to persuade the Queen, like a bold child, to re-
turn to her duty. The sight of a carriage, and of
some rags, not to speak of a formidable battery of
cannon, were enough to. turn her head.
" Thus not many.days had elapsed after the arrival
of the Consul and the English commodore, when the
flag of the protectorate was taken from the house,
commodious and elegant as it is, called the palace of
the Queen, and. Pomare hastened to replace it with
one which had been given to her by the captain of
the Vindictive. Commodore Nicholas did still
nom ; he landed his guns, and placed them in
battery, so as to command the eptrance, of the roads.
France had then at Tahiti but one corvette of 21
guns; hut the captain of the Boussola, and sub-
sequently the captain of the Embuscade, addressed
to him such energetic remonstrances, that the English
commander thought fit to abandon his hostile demon-
strations against a friendly flag, and he withdrew his
guns. Commodore Nicholas, nevertheless, remained
two months in the roads; not loSing any occasion of
treating with derision the French protectorate, and of
annoying the provincial government left 1V Admiral
Dupetit Thouars. A little later and the captain
of the Vindictive, one of those old sailors who
nourish almost to madness the recollection of national
quarrels, might have paid for the hatred, absurd, and
extravagant feeling which he avowed against France ;
but no large ship of war with the French flag ap-
peared to oppose his insulting extravagance, until
Admiral Thomas, commander-in-chief on the English
station in the South Sea, ordered the Vindictive
away, and replaced her by the Dublin, which frigate
has remained a peaceful spectator of what was going
on, and never neglecting the courtesy due to our
officers.

," Nevertheless, it became urgent to settle on a de-
finitive basis our relations with the Society Islands,
and to put an end to the obstacles which were raised
against us by the irresolution of the Queen, and the
malevolence of her counsellors. The Uranie frigate
arrived at the Marquesas Islands, bringingouttlie Go-
vernor of the French possessions in Oceania, and King's
Commissioner to the Queen of Otaheite. She found in
the roadstead of Taio-Hae the Reine Blanche, bearing
the Admiral's flag, and the Danae. M. Dupetit Thouars
and M. Bruat agreed to present themselves before
Papaiti, with the three frigates. To make under
these circumstances a great display of force was
doing an act of generosity. The issue of a contest
with the inhabitants would not have been doubtful,
but it would have been a had commencement on our
work of civilisation to have shed their blood. It was
much more important to fill them with an idea of our
power, as they had been persuaded that France had
but one large man-of-war, and that it was. always the
same vessel which called there at different times,
painted in a different manner to prevent recognition.
" The departure of the Reine Blanche from Taio-
Rae had preceded ours. We anchored three days
after in the Bay of Papaiti, and we learned that the
endeavours of the Admiral during those three days to
persuade the Queen to frankly admit the treaty she had
signed and ratified, and to re-hoist the flag of the
protectorate, hid been fruitless. It was necessary to
put an end to this bad faith, which had been
brought about by bad advice. On Sunday, the sth
November, the order of the Admiral appeared which
proclaimed the dethronement of the Queen and the
sovereignty of the King of the French, and which
announced that, on the following morning at six
o'clock, the three frigates would land their men, and
the tri-coloured flag would be immediately hoisted
on the Queen's palace, and preparations were made
to salute the national colours at daybreak.
"In the night the orders were changed. The Ad-
miral wished to act as long as possible with indul-
gence. He thought that the order of the day pub.
lished in the day, would have been sufficient to have
set aside the suggestions of Mr. Pritchard and his
colleagues, and to point out to the poor Queen the
precipice on which she stood. A. delay was
granted. Noon was the time fixed at which
the tri-coloured flag should be hoisted by
order of the Queen, and France would then
content herself with the execution of the
other clauses of the treaty. If this was not
done the dethronement of Queen Pomare was
to be declared, and her flag replaced by
our own. We waited for noon, and the intervening
hours 'were those of emotion and lively anxiety. An
Indian Princess; the issue of a family which was
illustrious and powerful in her country, was either
to renounce the inheritance of her ancestors or return
to good faith and equity—France was either to possess
nominal supremacyin these fine islands, orpossess them
entirely. Serious interests were thus attached to the
hoisting of a flag. The quarter-decks of all the
vessels in the roadstead, including that of the Eng-
lish frigate., were crowded with officers ; • all their
telescopes were directed towards the Queen's palace,
and men were posted on the tops on the look out.
The hour past ; the flag of Pomare was still waving ;
Pomare--the blind, the. obstinate Pomare—refused
to yield to our demands. Two hundred artillery
and marines were landed, with 300 or 400 sailors,
and surrounded the Queen's house, in which every-
thing was silent--the flag of Pomare was removed ;
M. d'Aubigny, the Governor of Tahiti, exclaimed
Officers, soldiers, and sailors, and you inhabitants of
'these islands, to whom we bring justice and peace, in
the name of the King, our august master, I take pos-
session of this country. We shall be content to die
for the defence of the glorious tri-coloured flag.
Hoist the flag This order was executed amidst the
rolling of the
_drums and cries of ' I ive le Roi'
Queen Pomare has ceased to reign, and we tread
French :land ! "

• " The flag 'of the English Consulate was immediately
lowered._ A rather large number of natives were as-
sembled in front of the residence of M. Pritchard, and
the latter was seen addressing them with vehemence.
However, his exhortations do not seem to have been
attended with much success. In the evening the town
.had resumed its wonted tranquillity; the men
srnok their cigars With as much insouciance, and the
women exhibited their white teeth with a playful
naivete, as if they had not just witnessed &revolution.
" The Governor,General was, installed on the Sth,
and had a Council acknowledged,, consisting of Cap-
tain d'Aubigny, Lieutenant Clon, and M. Macren-
hout, ei-Consul of France. .
" A proclamation, addressed, to the inhabitants, has
informed them that a full guarantee is granted to their
persons, property, and the free exercise-of their reli-
gious worship.
" Papaiti is declared a free port. • No anchorage,
customs,
pouroiodthuetiresd.uties, will be in future paid, ex-
cepting.
r
" The French flag floats over a fine country,
which, fn certain respects, still reminds one of Bou-
gainville's poeticat description. I shall
,tell you later
whether La Nouvelle-CS-there has any: chance of
proving in time a useful andrAluetive colway.
`.r.4IGINE GOOSE."

Ke
7.

ON OF TAHITI.