RELATING TO

TAHIT I,

AND TO THE

LEEWARD, OR SOCIETY ISLANDS,

IN THE PACIFIC.

No. 1.

Viscount Palmerston to Count Ste. Aulaire.

M. l'Ambassadeur, Foreign Office, January 20, 1847. WITH reference to the verbal communications which I have had with your Excellency upon the affairs of Tahiti, I have the honour to state to your Excellency that I have received from almost every part of Great Britain the most numerous and earnest representations, requesting Her Majesty's Government to obtain from that of France permission that such of the people of Tahiti as may wish to withdraw from the island and to remove and settle elsewhere, may do so without molestation; carrying with them of course any moveable property which they may possess, or being allowed to dispose of that or any other property which they may have in the island, if they wish to do so.

Her Majesty's Government cannot imagine that the Government of France can have any objection to consent to this request, a compliance with which will afford very great satisfaction to a large portion of the British nation, while at the same time it would probably put an end to local differences and contests which must be more or less embarrassing to the Government of France.

It will afford Her Majesty's Government great pleasure if your Excellency can enable me to state to the memorialists that the above-mentioned permission will be granted by the French Government to the people of Tahiti.

I am, &c. (Signed)

PALMERSTON.

No. 2.

Count Ste. Aulaire to Viscount Palmerston.

Londres, le 1 Février, 1847.

LE Soussigné, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire de Sa Majesté le Roi des Français près Sa Majesté Britannique, a reçu la note que son Excellence le Vicomte Palmerston, Principal Secrétaire d'Etat de Sa Majesté Britannique pour les Affaires Etrangères, a bien voulu lui adresser, le 20 Janvier dernier, pour lui exprimer le désir de savoir si les habitans de Tahiti qui voudraient quitter cette île pour s'établir ailleurs, pourraient s'en éloigner sans opposition de la part des autorités locales.

Le Soussigné est en mesure d'annoncer à son Excellence le Vicomte Palmerston, que, dès le 2 Décembre dernier, M. le Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies à écrit à M. le Gouverneur des établissements Français de l'Océanie, pour lui prescrire de n'opposer aucun obstacle à l'émigration vers les îles du nord-ouest des indigènes de Tahiti qui demanderaient à abandonner l'île, dans la vue de se soustraire à l'autorité du Protectorat.

Le Soussigné se félicite d'avoir à annoncer à son Excellence Lord Palmerston une décision qui lui sera agréable, et dans laquelle son Excellence verra une nouvelle preuve de la modération et de l'esprit de conciliation que le Gouvernement du Roi apportera toujours dans ses rapports avec les naturels de Tahiti.

THE Undersigned, &c., has received the note which his Excellency Viscount Palmerston, &c. addressed to him on the 20th of January last, and in which he expressed a desire to learn whether such of the inhabitants of Tahiti as might wish to quit that island in order to establish themselves elsewhere, would be allowed to depart therefrom without opposition on the part of the local authorities.

The Undersigned is enabled to announce to his Excellency Viscount Palmerston, that as long ago as the 2nd of December last, the Minister of the Marine and Colonies wrote to the Governor of the French establishments of Oceania, instructing him to offer no obstacle to the emigration to the islands of the north-west, of such of the natives of Tahiti as might desire to depart from that island with the view of withdrawing from the authority of the Protectorate.

The Undersigned therefore congratulates himself on having to communicate to his Excellency Lord Palmerston a decision which will be satisfactory to him, and in which his Excellency will see a new proof of the moderation and of the spirit of conciliation which the Government of the King will always manifest in its relations with the natives of Tahiti.

He avails, &c.

Declaration of the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and France, acknowledging the Independence of the Islands of Huahine, Raiatea, and Borabora, and of the small Islands adjacent thereto.