FATHER HONORE LAVAL AND HIS FELLOW-LABORERS IN THE PACIFIC.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE INDEPENDENT. Sir,-— I will recall to memory certain facts that concern some priests, missioners in the Pacific. I will bring them to memory, old as they are, because of their relative importance, and also for the Bake of justice. On the 10th of May, 1870, you published a very severe and insulting article from l< Pall Mall Gazette" against Father Laval and hie fellow-laborers at Gambler tod Tahiti Islands. Not only you quoted "Pall Mall Gazette," but you endorsed its judgment by heading the extracts with the odious words "A Theocracy in the Pacific." The article went on to S ay : — " The French judge in Tahiti, M. Louis Jacolliot, has published a pamphlet, the object of which is to exonerate the Count de la Ronciere, the former Governor, who is accused of abuse of his official power.. The moat interesting part of this work is that which gives an account of the proceedings of the French missionaries in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The Fathers of the Picpus Mission have taken possession of the Gambier Islands, and have there established a theocratic government, the like of which has never been seen. As their brethren in India and China carry on trade and banking business, those reverend fathers, under the guidance of Father Laval, have undertaken a trade of pearl and mother-of-pearl fishery, of which they possess the monopoly. The aborigines are compelled, through the medium of their chiefs, to deliver a certain quantity 'of pearls, for which they receive in return clothes and other necessaries. Father Laval has raised a strong body of police, by means of which he overpowers all resistance. The chiefs are terrified and kept in subjection by threats of death and eternal punishment. The care Father Laval takes of the morals of the people is such, that all umnarried women are imprisoned in the evening and let out in the morning. On the evening of the great festivals of the Church all the women are separated from the men and shut up overnight. For this purpose 1 there are about one hundred lock-ups. These singular facts became known to the authorities of Tahiti through the occurrence of the following events, &&, &c." Here follows the description of all sort of ill treatment against strangers visiting or cast upon the islands. At the time this famous extract appeared in the columns of the Independent, I felt indignant, and could not help raising my voice against what I believed to be a scandalous accusation. In default of contradictory evidence, I showed the absurdity of those charges. What ! did I exclaim, men gentle and meek like lambs, who by that meekness and by long endurance, aided by the grace of God, have converted a population of wolves into lambs and sheep of Christ ; those men have become all at once the tyrants and torturers of their fellow beings ! No, I could not admit those charges of cruelty. After having thus risen for the defence of those priests, who are dear to me, I sat consoled as having done my duty, and hoping for the day when irrevocable proofs of their innocence could be had, and a retractation could be asked. It is thus I expressed myself. Well, Mr Editor, that day has come at last. I make at once extracts on this matter from a Parisian journal, the "Figaro," that is not a clerical paper. I might indeed quote several of them, as the sequel will show. In one of its numbers of the month of August, which could not come to my hands sooner, under this heading : Tahity (Polynesia), ws re-ad : — "Except some faithful who peruse with interest the-anrodß-of the propagation of the faith, there are few who know the life full of devotednesa and perils of our missionaries. ... At the price of great sufferings, those glorious martyrs, the cross in their hands, have done much more for the extension of the French name and power than the guns and bayonets of our soldiers. Yet there has been found a man .having not the palliation of ignorance, who could attack in an abject manner one of those worthy priests, and the Order of the foreign mission to which he belongs. A certain Jacolliot, formerly an Imperial Judge at Tahiti, has published a pamphlet, "Truth on Tahiti, the affair la Ronciere." That production is a tissue of lies and slanders, aiming at everything that is sacred in religion, and against Louis-Jacques Laval, in religion, Father Honore, Missionary Priest, whom they represent as a murderer and a poisoner. One must go over that loathsome production to understand how odious are those defamations and injuries. That \mhappy priest is held up as amenable before the tribunals of the country, as liable of being repressed by his ecclesiastical and religious superiors. He is attainted not only in his honor, but in the exercise of his profession and in the respect due to the character with which he is invested. Happily our priest has had confidence in French justice. He had recourse to the Supreme Court of the State of the Protectorate of the Society Islands. The tribunal of Papeete pronounced in his favour. It 'has been admitted that the passages of the pamphlet which refer to the father have all the legal character of defamation and injury, and that their author, from his own confession, has acted by predetermination, fully conscious of the gravity of his words. Consequently the Court has condemned Jacolliot to pay to Father Laval the sum of 15,000 f for damages, ordered the suppression of the portions of the pamphlet proved to be criminal, commanded the insertion of the judgment in the official journal of the Protectox'ate in French, in English, in Tahitian, and in three newspapers of the French colonies, in three journals of Paris, and in four Gazettes of provinces, at the choice of Father Laval. We think we help the action of Justice to the profit of public morals in calling public indignation, and pointing out the conduct of a man who has been just branded by tribunals." Mi 1 Editor, let me conclude with a few words. The above judgment is already of an old date. Here and there they receive the journals of Tahiti, of New Caledonia; they publish extracts from them ; no doubt they have seen the proclamation of the innocence of that persecuted priest. \They took no notice of it. They had spread the scandal, it did not suit them to make reparation. To slander Pope, priests, and nuns, never to retract is the fashion of the world. Some will ask : Would it not have been more perfect to follow the counsel of Our Lord, to present both cheeks to slaps, and to let go to the thief both cloak and coat? Father Laval judged differently, seeing his personal honor, the honor of his society and that of religion being trampled upon. He sought for legal protection, and he obtained it. Let me observe the significant word which is part of the sentence. In the injury Jacolliot inflicted upon the priest, the Bftme Jacolliot owns having acted by predetermination, being fully sensible of

the gravity of his expressions. That reminds me once more of the sayirig of Voltaire to D'Argental, by which I concluded my reply of the 12th May, 1870. Let us tell lies ; let us still tell lies ; there will always remain something. Mr Editor, I trust the length of my letter will be no reason to decline its insertion. I keep the promise I made. I am confident chat you published the "Pall Mall Gazette" article with the regrettable heading : Theocracy in the Pacific, with an implicit reserve of publishing the contradiction that might appear one day. You are bound not by the sentence of the court of Papeete, but by the rules of honor, which you profess to follow, besides your usual moderation and impartiality, to which I feel pleasure to render testimony and the homage of which I beg you to accept. — I am &c, J. Bap. Petit Jean, Priest.