TAHITI.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 147, 18 March 1859, Page 2

TAHITI.

The Moniteur Taliitien publishes an account of the opening of the native Legislative Assembly at Tahiti. The French Commissioner,' accompanied by his staff and the captains and officers'.of/the different vessels in the proceeded, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to the residence <?f Queen Pomare, in order to accompany her Majesty to' the Protestant church, where the ceremony had been appointed to take place., A salute of twenty-one guns announced the departure of the cortege from the palaoe. On reaching the church, the Queen and the Imperial Commissioner'were received by a deputation of x twenty deputies, and headed by the Regent Paraita. " The Rev. A. Simpson, a Protestant minister, delivered the usual prayer, and a hymn was sung by'the children of the charity schools. The Queen then delivered to her husband, Ariifaaite, the following speech in Tahitian, requesting him'to'read it to the Assembly:— ■ - ; • , •' .■ . ; " Gentlemen,—After more than a year's absence from Tahiti, which time I have passed at Raiatea, whither my duties as a mother had called me, 1 am happy to-find myself in the midst of the Assembly, which,, in accord with the Imperial Commissioner, I have called together:-conformably4o the law. .At the news of the. attempt .of the 14th of January, I, like you, offered up. thanks to God for having saved the life of the Emperor Napoleon, our powerful protector, so precious to France, to Europe, and to these islands! The most.perfect understanding has never ceased to subsist between the Imperial.Commissioner and .myself. - I-have pi'overVmy confidence in him by placing on boaid liis vessel my weil-beloved son Joinville, for the purpose of being educated, aiid learning the French language. I have every reason to be satisfied with this arrangement. Continue, gentlemen, to assist the Imperial Commissioner in improving our laws, and u\ spreading among the people instruction, and a tast« for labor and order. You will thus worthily fulfil the mandate which is conferred on you by the law, and by the choice of the inhabitants of the various districts. Our common efforts having for their object to render these islands prosperous and happy, \ve may rely on the protection of Divine Providence."- . . ■ The Imperial Commissioner afterwai'ds addressed the Assembly in a long speech, in which he drew a very flattering picture of the prosperous state of the country. The President of the Assembly made a brief reply, in which he assured the Queen that she might always rely on the devotedness of the Assembly. ■ The proceedings then terminated. •