"On the 8th, the principal chiefs arrived and dined on board with the admiral, and on the same day we had the first intimation that a meeting was to be held between the chiefs and the French. The same evening, the British vice-consul and the American consul received an official document from the ships, stating that differences existed between the Tahitian and French governments, which would probably lead to hostilities, and all British and American subjects were warned to secure their persons and property. Early on the following morning, we ascertained from Mure, the chief speaker, that the expected meeting had been anticipated by a secret one held during the night between four principal chiefs and the French. At this meeting, a document was signed by the four chiefs, of which the following is a literal translation:

"To the Admiral A. Du Petit Thouars.

"Because we are not able to govern in our own kingdom, in the present circumstances, so as to harmonize with foreign governments, lest our land, and our kingdom, and our liberty should become that of another, we whose names are written below, viz. the queen and principal chiefs of Tahiti, write to you to ask that the shadow of the king of the French may be thrown over us :

"On the following conditions:

"1st. That the title and the government of the queen, and the authority also of the principal chiefs, remain in themselves over their people.

"2nd. That all laws and observances be established in the name of the queen, and have her signature attached to them to render them binding on her subjects.

3rd. That the lands of the queen, and all her people, shall remain in their own hands, and all discussions about lands shall be among themselves: foreigners shall not interfere.

"4th. That every man shall follow that religion which accords with his own desire: no one shall influence him in his thoughts toward God.

464

5th. That the places of worship belonging to the English missionaries, which are now known, shall remain unmolested, and the British missionaries shall continue to perform the duties of their office.

"6th. Persons of all other persuasions shall be entitled to equal privileges.

"On these conditions, if agreeable, the queen and chiefs solicit the protection of the king of the French. The affairs concerning foreign governments and also concerning foreign residents at Tahiti, are to be left with the French government, and with the officers appointed by that government, such as port regulations, &c., &c.; and with them shall rest all those functions which are calculated to produce harmony and peace.

666

RAIATA, Speaker to the Queen,
UTAMI,
HITOTI,
TATI,

}

Principal Chiefs.""

On these documents we are happy to be able to present our readers with the following remarks :—

"The 9th was a day of painful suspense. The queen's consent was not yet obtained. The admiral demanded her signature, or 10,000 dollars, for injuries alleged ; if neither signature nor money was yielded in twenty-four hours, he declared his intention of planting the French flag and firing his guns; thus formally taking the island and making his own conditions. All saw that the islands were virtually taken, and of two evils it was thought best to choose the least. The queen signed just one hour before the firing was to commence. Proclamations are now issued, of which one clause states, That any person who shall, either in word or deed, prejudice the Tahitian people against the French government shall be banished.'

A

supreme council of three Frenchmen is appointed. Beyond them there is no appeal but to the king of the French.

"Since the arrival of the intelligence in France, the public journals of that country have teemed with the most glowing and gratulatory accounts of the annexation of the islands to the French crown. In these papers it is stated, that the act of cession on the part of the queen and chiefs of Tahiti was purely spontaneous and unsought, and that the naval commander Du Petit Thouars, in taking possession of the islands, only complied with their earnest solicitations to be admitted to the enjoyment of French protection.

"The following observations will be sufficient to expose the gross and absurd misrepresentations involved in these statements :—

"First. They are utterly at variance with antecedent events.

"It will be seen from the preceeding pages, that in the year 1838, the same French commander visited the island, in the frigate Venus,' for the purpose of demanding reparation for injuries alleged to have been committed against certain subjects of France; and, on that occasion, that he demanded from the queen, and obtained, a fine of 2000 dollars, under a threat of bombarding the principal settlement, or taking possession of her territory. This was followed by a second and a third aggression on the native government, by French men of war. These successive attacks had rendered the power of France terrific, and her very name odious to the islanders; and apart from the statement of our correspondent, to believe that the queen and chiefs invited the protection and safeguard of a nation they had only known as their oppressor, is impossible.

"Secondly. The circumstances attending the treaty, and the manner in which it was enforced, sufficiently expose the dishonourable and oppressive means by which it was obtained.

"The meeting at which the compulsory and deceitful treaty was constructed was held clandestinely at night, without the knowledge of the queen, and was utterly at variance with her supreme authority: accordingly she manifested the utmost reluctance, and delayed to sign it. But the French admiral demanded her signature, or a fine of 10,000 dollars (and this demand of 10,000 dollars is confirmed by the admiral's own letter,) under a threat that if neither signature was given, nor the fine paid, within twenty-four hours, he would plant the French flag and fire his guns: thus formally taking the islands, and making his own conditions. To pay the fine, amounting to £2000 sterling, or to resist, was equally impossible, and the queen affixed her signature just one hour before the firing was to commence. It must be borne in mind that this negociation was carried on with the native chiefs in a language with which they were wholly unacquainted.

"Thirdly. The measures on which the native chiefs are represented as requesting the protection of France were utterly groundless, viz. because they were not able to govern in their own kingdom in the present circumstances, so as to harmonize with foreign governments,' and 'lest their land, their kingdom, and their liberty, should become that of another.'

"These reasons are quite irreconcileable with the facts of the whole case. The chiefs would not have visited the French commander unless he had commanded their attendance; and no danger to their liberty and government ever arose or was even apprehended from any power but the arms of France.

"It might be inferred from the articles of the agreement, that it was honourably intended to secure the civil and religious rights both of the natives and foreigners; but these, especially as it respects the latter, are neutralized by the last clause, The affairs concerning foreign governments, and also concerning foreign residents on Tahiti,

are to be left with the French government, and with the officers appointed by that government.'

"In accordance with the insidious and dangerous power thus obtained, a supreme council of three Frenchmen is appointed. Proclamations are issued; in one of which it is declared, that any person who shall, either in deed or word, prejudice the Tahitian people against the French government, shall be banished,' thus placing the liberty of every Englishman on the island at the mercy of these unprincipled and lawless men."

Such, then, is the present position of our beloved missionary brethren at Tahiti. Mr. Pritchard, the British consul, is on his passage to the island, but several months must elapse before he can reach the port. Tidings may be sent to Sydney, but a dreary period of delay must intervene also, before protection can be brought, if obtained at all, for them. It is our happiness, and that of our brethren also, to seek his aid "who is a God at hand and not afar off, a present help in every time of trouble."

Not that human instrumentality is to be forgotten. The Directors, have, therefore, seen Lord Aberdeen on the subject, and the following statements were made in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening, March 28th, on the affair.

"Sir George Grey begged to put a question to the right honourable baronet opposite, with regard to the reports which had been recently circulated upon the subject of the possessions of the French government in the Pacific. It was stated that proceedings had been taken by the French naval commander in the Pacific Ocean, by which the island of Tahiti and its neighbouring islands had been subjected to the dominion or superintendence of France. These proceedings had created great apprehensions amongst a portion of the people of this country, who took an interest in the extension of civilization amongst the people of these islands. They had sought to obtain their object through the agency of missionaries, who resided amongst the islands. He wished to inquire whether the government had received any intelligence of these proceedings, official or otherwise, or whether their attention had been directed to this subject with a view to the protection of the subjects of the British crown in the part of the world to which he had alluded.

"Sir R. Peel would state to the house the information which her majesty's government had received upon this subject. They heard that the rear-admiral commanding the French squadron in the South Pacific Ocean had demanded from the queen and chiefs of the island of Tahiti, which was the chief of a considerable group of islands, as satisfaction for certain injuries alleged to have been committed, a sum of 10,000 piastres, to be deposited as a guarantee that the French government should be placed in a fit and just position. The queen and her chiefs found themselves unable to meet this demand: but in lieu of that which was demanded they tendered to the rear-admiral the nominal sovereignty of the island until satisfaction could be afforded, reserving to themselves the actual, the territorial possession of the island, and the actual administration of the affairs of the government. This arrangement was subject to the confirmation of the king of the French. He was aware that, as the right honourable baronet had stated, there were missionaries established in these islands, who had conducted themselves so as to merit the respect and care of the British government; but it appeared that the queen of Tahiti and her chiefs, in the arrangements which they had made, had made express stipulations that all kinds of religious worship should be protected; and that the English missionaries should be entitled to exercise their religious duties without molestation. Communications had been had with the French government, and it was learned that it was not intended to occupy the islands with any description of force; but that a provisional government was to be

erected for the management of affairs. This was a subject on which he did not feel himself entitled to offer any opinion. He had merely stated the facts, as the government had learned them; and at the same time he begged to assure the right hon. baronet that, in communications from the French government, assurances had been given that the British subjects in these islands should be in no respect prejudiced by what had occurred, in any of their rights, or in the exercise of their religious functions."

The conduct of the President of the United States, in reference to the Sandwich Islands, which have been also threatened with French aggressions, and doubtless from the same cause, may supply Lord Aberdeen with an example worthy of his imitation, unless, indeed, he be prepared to truckle to France in a manner not worthy of his creed or his country.

THE EDUCATIONAL CLAUSES OF THE FACTORY BILL. THE Factory Bill, which was read a second time in the House of Commons, on Friday evening, March 24th, but which will not go into committee till after the Easter recess, has filled the friends of general education throughout the land with the liveliest apprehensions. Crowded as our pages are with other deeply interesting matter, we have not space to insert the resolutions of all the denominational or sectional bodies who have published their opionions upon these proposed enact

ments.

It is however alike due to our brethren and the various congregations with which they are connected, to insert the following, which we believe embody the principal objections felt against the measure :—

At a Meeting of the Board of Congregational Ministers in and about London, held at the Congregational Library, Blomfield Street, on Friday, March 17th, 1843, Rev. Dr. MORISON in the chair, the following Resolutions on the Bill to provide for the better Education of Children in Factory Districts were adopted :

"I. That this Board is deeply impressed with the importance of giving the children in factory districts a useful and religious education in accordance with the principles of civil and religious liberty.

"II. That the Board having considered the Bill for the better education of children in factory districts now before Parliament, and finding that many of its educational clauses are both sectarian and oppressive, protests against them in the strongest terms, and calls upon all the friends of civil and religious liberty to give them their most strenuous opposition.

"III. That the following are among the more objectionable provisions of the

measure.

"1. The appointment of the clergy and their churchwardens as school trustees. "2. The appointment of four additional trustees by the justices of the division. "3. The appointment of the clerical trustee as the permanent chairman at the meetings of the committee.

"4. The authority given to the clerical trustee to prescribe and regulate the religious instruction of the schools, while even the government inspector is not allowed to inquire into or report upon that instruction without express permission given by the archbishop of the province or the bishop of the diocese in which such schools may be situated.

"5. The infliction of a penalty on parents for not sending their children to the schools.

"IV. That the above scheme is calculated to maintain and diffuse a sectarian and

anti-social feeling in the community-to establish clerical domination-to oppress the conscientious dissenter, and utterly to prostrate the independent spirit of the people.

"V. That as the measure is avowedly intended as an experiment with a view to its general extension throughout the country, no time should be lost in eliciting and in conveying to the legislature the strongest expression of public opinion on the subject."

Besides these, the ministers of the Three Denominations, the Dissenting deputies, and the Wesleyan Committee of Privilege, the Committees of the Protestant Society, and the Religious Freedom Society, the Sunday School Union, and the Baptist Union, have all put forth their objections; whilst in the country, at Leeds, Halifax, West Bromwich, Newport, and many other places, measures equally energetic are in progress against the exceptionable clauses of this important measure.

Some liberal journals have lamented the tone of decided hostility expressed in the resolutions of these bodies. Against an equal system of National education, it is indeed impossible for intelligent and patriotic Nonconformists to oppose themselves, who have examined the volume published by authority, " on the Physical and Moral Condition of the Children and Young Persons Employed in Mines and Manufactories." We hope that such a case of ignorance, immorality, and crime, cannot be furnished by any other country under heaven; and that it exists in our own, should cover, with burning shame, the faces of those who talk of the established church "as the legal, authorized, and supreme instructress of the people."

But when this "supreme instructress" is "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," doctrines which her own sons declare to be soul-destroying and apostate, how can evangelical dissenters stand by and see, not only the untaught masses given over entirely to such instructions, but a system set up which will supersede and ultimately destroy the 16,000 voluntary Sunday schools of our island, which have done so much to unite the middle and the lower classes,-to induce a love of Bible reading amongst the people,—and to further evangelical religion in most parts of the country?

Two-and-twenty years ago, Henry Brougham, brought into parliament an Education Bill, which, like the present, gave the superintendence and direction to the clergyman of the parish, and though admired and honoured by the dissenting bodies, he was met by a resistance from his friends, that led him to abandon the measure. Most honestly do we wish to see the people educated, but if they are to be educated in the doctrines of apostolical succession and sacramental efficiency, of passive obedience and non-resistance,-doctrines that will prepare the way for the exercise of arbitrary power in church and state,--then we must still object:—and if the measure is abandoned, let it be known that these wells of knowledge have been stopped up, to prevent the people drinking poisoned water; and that it is the vixenspirit of "the supreme instructress" that will not allow the state to educate its subjects at all, unless she is permitted to teach them doctrines subversive of Protestant truth, and Protestant liberty,-doctrines that brought Laud and Strafford to the block!

In conclusion, we entreat all our readers to resist those obnoxious clauses by petitions to Parliament. And let not the residents of agricultural counties suppose this measure, relating to factory districts, does not belong to them; for it is confessedly experimental, and will be assuredly extended throughout the land, when once it has been forced upon the less docile people of the north.

As it is probable that the fate of this measure will be decided before we can again address our readers, we entreat them, without delay, to resist these most insidious but dangerous enactments.