But, in spite of the fact that "the cordial understanding" had been loudly proclaimed, the idea of allowing England to interfere would have been so unpopular in France that no government could have ventured to entertain it. Under these circumstances Aberdeen could only direct Mr. Drummond Hay, the British consul at Tangier, to proceed to Fez and to endeavour to prevail upon the Emperor to acquiesce in the French demands. Notwithstanding that the Moors had a second time attacked the column of General de Lamoricière, strong hopes were entertained, at the end of July, that actual war might still be averted. On July 30, 1844, _The Times_ announced the startling news that Mr. Pritchard, the British consul at Tahiti, had arrived in England, after having been arrested, cast into a dungeon and finally expelled from the island by the French military authorities. In answer to a question put to him, the following night, by Sir Charles Napier in the House of Commons, Sir Robert Peel declared that, if the reports which the government had received were true, "a gross outrage" had undoubtedly been perpetrated. But, when the next day M. de Jarnac spoke to Lord Aberdeen on the subject, he was authorized to inform M. Guizot that the Prime Minister could not admit that his words had been correctly reported in the morning papers.[780] The first accounts of Mr. Pritchard's case would seem to have been somewhat inaccurate. When all the circumstances were brought to light, it was evident that the British government had just cause to complain of the treatment which he had experienced, but it was, at the same time, no less clear that his own conduct had been most injudicious. Immediately upon the proclamation of French sovereignty over Tahiti, Mr. Pritchard struck his flag and sent a protest to Admiral Thouars. From this moment he assumed so anomalous a position that it is not surprising that the French governor, Admiral Bruat, should have refused to recognize it. According to Pritchard's own statement, he "continued to perform his functions as consul, except in corresponding with the French authorities, and continued to act as the accredited agent of Great Britain to Queen Pomare." Furthermore, he appears to have invited the deposed Queen to take up her abode in his house, where she stayed until, "considering it not safe to remain on shore," she decided to go on board H.M.S. _Dublin_, which was lying in the harbour of Papeite.[781]