New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-06-12
Ew-YoFsH. ,EoNDAY MORNING, JUNE IL, 1875
National plunder;n.,

The Evening Post translates from the Courier
des Etats Unis of April 9th, some weeks be-
fore the news of the British outrage upon the
Sandwich Islands was received the following
article IN relation to the recent French usurpa-
tons in the Pacific:
The American Continent has long been called
the New World. But the title belonos in reality
az present to those numerous Archipelagos of
Oceanea, which. the Creator has scattered like so
many sea-marks along line of four thousand
leagues between Europe and Asia It is toward
Asia that the movement Of expansion which now
agltates the two worlds principally directs itself
1t is there that their genius seeks TO create safety
valves Tor tier industry, whose excessive de-
yelopment threatens 10 cause an explosion. 1t Is
important therefore, to occupy stations as soon
and as firmly as possible, near that :Asiatic con-
tlnent which has awakened the desires Of political
ambition and mercantile aviditv. Holland and
England, those rival spectators. have been the
first 10 take their positions.
!" Holland possesses Java, by which she CON-
mands the entrance of the seas which wash the
coasts of Eastern Asia; Sumatra. Banca, Billeton,
MadOura, great part fthe Celcbes Borneo.which
is 2o5 leagues long and $50 wide the Archipela-
COS of Sumbara and Timor almost entire the clus
ter OF the Moluccas the country of spices. Her
dominion extends over a population of more than
ten millions souls. For a long time England
made no opposition to the extension of the colo
mes OF Holland In Oceanea fearful of the rivalry
OF this power Tor her own possessions on the
Aslatlc Continent, she was glad to see her open
ing 70 herself a path IN another direction. 1t is
even known that there exists a treaty by which
the Government of Britain engages to leave TO
that of Holland the utmost latitude of extension,
on condition that she, in her turn will not inter
fere with the operations of England in India :
but the Cabinet of st. James has at length per-
ccived that that of the Hague has singulary
proftcd by the liberty allowed to its colonial
movements. Britain, therefore, has founded an
establishment III New Holland TO check the pro.
gress Of her rival. Still more recently she has
occupied a station in New Guinea, as if to bar
her progress and say TO her Thus far, and no
farther y
1t was now time that France shonld make
one in this game and contribute her stake. The
taking possession Of the Marqucsas Islands was
the first of her winnings; that of the group of
Tahiti is the second. These two points of oc-
cupation happily chosen. and mutually
strengthen each other. The Marquesas offer but
one good port, that of Nouka Hiva; the soil is
mountainous, arid, the cultivation limited and un-
productive, and water that nourishlng milk OF
the earth, almost wanting. At Tahiti, on the
contrary, the plains are immense the soil is of
prodgous fertility, waite. is abundant, all the
ports are excellent. and nature has defended them
by coral reefs which render them almost nacces-
sible to a hostile force. The Marquesas Islands
will therefore be the military station, and Tahiti
the commercial station on one side the arsenal,
Oh the other the granary of the colony.
f,UO ito mi,
ally supporting each other, will acquire new i'm
portance on the day when the isthmus Of Panama
shall be pierced and shall become the channel BY
which the commerce of Europe and America
will communicate with the countries of the South,
Polynesia, Japan and China. Our two posses
sions magazines placed on the path Of this
great pilgrimage; they serve as stations to our
commerce, which, bringing us near to the western
coast of Amcrica-to Colombia, Peru aad Chill,
will extend our relations with countries which in
regard to French commerce are vet virgin and
uninterrupted"
Upon the above, the Post Justly remarks:
This is an exposition, no doubt fair one,
from a French source, Of the policy Of France
in the seizure Of the Marquesas and the Society
Islands. The powers of Europe, such of them
as possess Il marine, are snatchng one after an
other, at the isles of the Pacific, cstccming them
lawful plumber. We do not for our part perceive
any material difference between the act which
appropriates the Sandwich Islands to the British
Cove. nmcnt, and that which suddenly makes the
helpless islanders of Otaheite subjects of Louis
Philip. That beautiful island, inhabited by race
fast advancing in civilization, with its immense
plains, its fertile SOIL its comnodlous ports fenced
with coral reefs, on which the French journalist
dwells with 50 much apparent delight was too
tempting possession to be left under govern
lnent of its own choice. Those plains, that soil,
those ports, are the offence for which it is seized
and made French colony, and for a similar
crime the Sandwich Islands are added to the pos
sessions of Britain.