The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-20 00:00:00

GRAND ASSAUT D'ARMES AT
WILLIS'S ROOMS.
M. Leon Gillemand, the Professor of Fencing, of Savile
House, Leicester-square, gave his annual public Assent
d' Armes yesterday afternoon, at two o'clock, at Willis's Rooms,
King-street, St. James's. The rooms were well attended,
and we were glad to see several ladies present. If ladies
patronise fencing—which, even as an amusement is as elegant
as dancing, and infinitely more useful and manly—the day is
not far distant when to be " cunning of fence" will be again an
essential accomplishment for every gentleman. The following
professors fenced in the course of the evening :—Sig. Gandini,
Mr. Germain, Mr. Breck, Sig. Chiosso, Mr. Tinniel, Mr.
Mondhair, and M. Leon Gillemand. The match between M.
L. Gillemand and,Signor Gandini, and that between Gandini
and an amateur which followed, were beautiful displays of
science. Mr. Chmsso acted as magister ludorum. The Assent
concluded with the hard sabre assault by M. Leon Gillemand
and' Signor Gandini—a wonderful exhibition of power and
science combined. There was an instrumental concert given
in intervals between the assaults by a band of 35 performers,
including Koenig, Collinet, Prosper, Arthur, Nicholson, Jar-
rett, and Keating, which was admirably conducted by young
Laurent,

IMPORTANT TO MARINERS.
The following is an extract of a letter received at Lloyd's,
from their agent at Hobart Town, dated March 8, 1845 i—
" By an Act of the Legislative Council of Van Diemen's
Land, the ports of Hobart Town and Launceston are declared
free ports for all vessels in the South Sea whale fishery. All
tonnage. light., harbour dues, and pilotage being entirely abo-
lished ; vessels engaged in the whale fishery can now enter this
port free from all port charges, and, on application to the col-
lector of customs, can land a sufficient quantity of oil and bone
to pay their expenses of outfit, Ice. The oil and bone landed
here is only liable to a duty of five per cent., and is always
saleable at remunerating rates. Fresh meat, vegetables, and
every description of ships' stores, are to be had at moderate
prices, and an abundant supply of wood and water can be had
with every facility."

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, June 19.
BISHOPS' PATRONAGE (IRELAND) BILL.
On our return to the gallery we found
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE complaining that there
had not been allowed sufficient time to consider the provisions
of the Bill.
Lord BROUGHAM supported the Bill, and protested that
he could not see what stateable grounds of objection there were
to the measure.
Lord COTTENH All thought, that as the Bill bad been laid
on the table of their Lordships' House on Monday last, they
were new in a condition to judge of its merits.
Lord CAMPBELL thought it was a most eicellent
What he would most respectfully suggest, however, was, that
before any step was taken in reference to the certificate of the
judge, the matter should be submitted to a Board before the
action commenced.
Lord BROUGHAM thought that 53 suits pending at one
time were quite enough to make any man's hair stand on
end.—( A laugh.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR said that he pitied his Noble
and Learned Friend, as a Member of that House, if he were
obliged to sit on .53 suits.—(Laughter.)
Lord CLANRICARDE complained of the improper haste
with which the measure was hurried on. He thought that the
rights of guardians and trustees should be regarded, and that
it should be postponed till all parties concerned had had time
to judge of its effects.
Lord DEN3f AN thought that latterly such suits had dwin,
died down to comparatively a small number.
After a good deal of conversation, in which the Marquis
of Clanricarde, the Earl of Wicklow, Lorcla Brougham, Cotten-
ham, Denman, and the Lord Chancellor toot part,
The Bill was read a second time, and committed.
The Bills on the table having been advanced It stage, their
Lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS. June 19.
NEW ZEALAND—THE ADJOURNED DEBATE.
Mr. ELLICE (in continuation) proceeded to &verve—
Captain Fitzroy found everything in disorder, everything in con-
fusion, and no means were pointed out by which he could repair
those evils. It appears that New Zealand was governed by
a council constituted under a provision of the 3d and
4th of Victoria, with relation to New South Wales
and its dependencies. The question then would. arise
as to how far New Zealand could be considered
independent of New South Wales. This was a question to
which he thought the Government should give a definite an-
swer.—(Dissent from Sir Robert Peel.) At least the
Government were bound to tell the House what they in-
tended to do with respect to New Zealand; and if they intended
to bring in an Act of Parliament to constitute it an indepen-
dent colony, some steps were necessary to amend
the state of things in that unfortunate island.
They bad bad people murdered, and it was most proper they
should find means of putting an end to those disturbances.
There was another national point which he would like to bring
before the Right Hon. Gentleman. They were going to esta-
blish for the first time a purely agricultural colony on the same
principles as their own constitution. What were they to do with
respect to the laws a the land—were they going to send over
their whole code of laws ?. Were they to establish the right of
primogeniture? If they did not meet this in the first instance
by some intelligible principle, which could be easily worked out
in New Zealand, they would now establish a scene of confu-
sion and contention, which would take them many years to
settle. He wished the Government would enlighten them on
these subjects. He expected that before this debate had been
brought to a close, that they would discover what hope there
was of good to be done without going into Committee. If they.
were to be left to the mercy of the Colonial-office, or any Co..lonial-officer fur the future Government of this country, thou-
sands of miles distant, the Government would find that
year after year complaints would ue made here by the New
Zealand Company, and year after year additional grants would
be looked for. He scarcely knew how to talk of the Colonial
Government on this matter. If they conformed to the rules
laid down by his Noble Friend, and inspired the agents
abroad with a little good temper and a little forbearance in
the exaction of their duties, such difficulties would not arise.
He did not wish to impute anything to the Noble Lord at the
head of the Colonial-office. Nobody could admire him more
than he (Mr. Ellice) did, for his talent, but there seemed in
this transaction to be an absence of other qualities quite as in-
dispensable to the duties of that office, as the great talent
which he possessed. He held it to be impossible for any man
to have sufficient power and time, to execute all the duties
thrown upon h.m by the increasing business of the Colonial-
office. There was New Zealand. That colony bad been
added to the responsibility of the Foreign-office within the last
four or five years, and this colony was increasing in diffi-
culty every hour. A good deal of that difficulty might
be cured by a little forbearance. The Government should
conciliate men, and, as far as they could, unite men together,
and not quarrel with men because one was impertinent,
another unreasonable, and a third had a prejudice, which it was
impossible to subdue. When he saw the situation of the poor
colonists, subjected as they were to the violence of the natives,
and being without the protection of the Government, he said
that their countrymen in that distant part of the world had a
right to appeal to that House. He again repeated to the
Right Hon. Gentleman opposite that he (Mr. Ellice) had
only risen to express his opinion as to what course ought now
to be pursued by Parliament in the settlement of this question.
They ought not to waste any more time in recrimination.—
( Hear, hear.) He hoped that course would be abandoned
on both sides, as it could lead to no good.—( Hear.)
He expressed himself more in pity than in anger, from the
hope of saving the colonists, who had been the victims of a
miserable policy, and with the hope of realising a future good.
Mr. CARDWELL said he would take the advice of the
Right Hon. Gentleman so far as to avoid saying anything that
could excite irritable feelings, yet he could not altogether-give
up reference to the past proceedings connected with the colony.
He sat in the Committee on the affairs of New Zealand last
year, and he could bear testimony that with regard to the
resolutions which had been come to on the business of the
Committee, there had not been the slightest recriminatory dis-
pute.
Neither had there been any expression of feeling in re- .
gard to the New Zealand Company, nor any reference to what it
had done, except in so far as it was necessary for the inquiries of the
Committee to refer to certain points of policy in its proceed-
ings. Though he could nut agree with the Right Hoe. Gen-
tleman that it was useless and unnecessary to enter
into any defence of the colonial policy, yet be
would refer to the policy only se far as it tended to elucidate
the question. The Noble Lord the Member for- Sunderland
(Lord Howick) had acurately stated the question—That it was
the protection of the settlers, and the rights and interests of
the native population. This was not a subject of recrimina-
tion, but a question of great and prominent importance. To
happy
that topic he would confine himself, and that only. What was
the real question? That all the difficulties which had been
to say, however,riencedhadthatarisen
thatfrom difficultyth
e'landwasquestion.in a
great He was
measure
overcome. He believed that all the land in the progress of
settlement had now been definitely arranged, with one single
exception. The land held by the New Zealand Company was
held under a very different claim to that of any other land in
the colony, for, while all the other land of the colony required
a confirmatory grant, that of the New Zealand Company
was an absolute grant. That grant was made by the
Noble Lord the Member for the Oity of London
(Lord J. Russell). He would not attempt to give another ver-
sion of the report of the Committee, but he should contend
that if the basis on which the report of the Committee was
founded was bad, he should destroy the arguments of that re-
port, and the inference to which they would naturally lead. He
would not say. that the fifth resolution of that Committee was
at variance with the evidence laid before them, but he would
show that the conclusions at which the Committee arrived were
contrary to the history of New Zealand. He held in his hand
a letter written by the Noble Lord, on the pith March, 1840,
to his Noble Colleague at the head of the Foreign-office, from
which it was evident—firstly, that there were not less than
three enactments on the Statute-book, all clearly disclaiming
that New Zealand was a part of the British dominions i and,
secondly, the acknowledgment of William IV., that New Zea..
land was a new and independent State. The Noble Lord the
Member for Sunderland (Lord Howick) had so frankly taken
that he should not quote it against him,
lit was shown -
upon himself his share of the blame for
.nthethfierswtatyranoisasaetuionnte:
but he would adduce a document, in which
.that
such was the state of New Zealand, that the natives were
merely for the purpose of send-
ingt beghei
rn
e eb
had
ur
at
dhc he
ae r
been el, el
mission to the Course of
toinatnhtheeemixsplusanreedissuls of this country. After that
plainly showed that they were
d independent
p e ople.
Such hadtoNewbeZreeablgeanaerndc(h
theed as h
a flee
"
wopiienion ofthe Nobleau Lord the Member for
London in 1840, and at the same time, or rather at an earlier
period, on the 22d of June, the Member for Taunton, in a
Treasury Minute of that date, expressed sentiments exactly in
consistence with those be (Mr. Cardwell) had that night pro-
pounded. He would refer to the treaty of Watonga for a short
time. Honourable Members were familiar with the language
of that treaty, and, therefore, he would not read it, but just
call the attention of the House to the first clause, by which the
Government had bound themselves to grant to the natives all
the forest rights and fisheries which they might poss ,
and the second clause reserved to the Crown the right of .
pre-emption. The pre-emption was confined to land Which
was not occupied by the natives. It was asserted that Sir G.
Gipps and the Noble Lord did not understand the treaty. Why,
Mr. Williams had explained to them exactly the position ID
which they stood before they would consent to sign the-treaty.
One party had said, " Oh, do not sign it, for after you have
done so they will take your lands." Another said, "Oh br
all means sign it, for they will not take your lands."
And thus were the opinions expressed in this remark-
able debate. The whole of this bad been expressly
stated. to Sir G. Gipps. Why, he thought that it was a libe
on Sir G. Gipps and the Noble Lord to say that the/ could
not, or would not, understand the treaty. After all tale,' Dr.
Evans and two others went to Sydney for the very purpose of
asking the opinion of Sir G. Gipps, and it was after that in-
terview that Sir G. Gipps had stated that be could net assent
to any decision on the matter ; for until after inquiry it was
impossible for him to say whether any, injury bad been
clone to the natives or not. He did not Prow what instruc-
tions had been given to the two Commissioners which Sir G.
Gipps had sent over afterthis ; but to his mind it was impossible
for any man to use plainer language for indicating his knowledge
of the nature and principles of the treaty. The Noble Lord
was accused of framing two plain and inconsistent agreements
within a few days. One was dated the Bth of November,h
the other showed that a communication a ..,.....,. sent out to
had
Sir G.uTipp.
thsewh:th*cherwagreas dated on them 21st December,
TrDetieeapondeamberea wi
, wldett
recoips