No.
No. 4.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference
832
16
Service is of a nature to be eventually productive of serious results, and to the anxiety which I consequently feel that the course to be pursued by Her Majesty's Government should be carefully weighed, and the previous refusal to bear any portion of the cost of the Suez Line not repeated as merely a matter of course on this occasion.
The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell,
&c.
&c.
&c.
No. 2.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
HENRY BARKLY.
Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir HENRY BARKLY, K.C.B., to the Duke of BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS.
(No. 3. Confidential.) MY LORD DUKE,
Mauritius, June 20, 1867. THE telegraphic news by the same mail which brought your Grace's Confidential Circular of the 11th of April desiring me to be prepared for any untoward contingency which might arise from the dispute between Great Britain and Spain or any other complication liable to occur in the state of European politics, leads to the supposition that the former has been amicably arranged, and that the latter were on the point of adjustment through the agency of a Conference among the great Powers.
2. The sense of responsibility, however, excited by such a warning, induces me to invite the serious attention of Her Majesty's Government to the comparatively defenceless position of this most important Colony and military station. Having reason to suppose that General after General has made representations on the subject, I should have preferred not intruding upon their particular province; but as the Colony is now made to contribute so large a sum in proportion to its resources, as 15,000l. per annum towards its military protection, I do not feel justified, other motives apart, in any longer keeping silence.
3. All that is wanting is, indeed, that the plans which have been for several years under considera- tion for strengthening the forts at the entrance of Port Louis, and arming them with guns of sufficient range to be effectual in modern warfare, should be carried out as soon as possible; doubtless, those forts twenty years ago presented a formidable obstacle to any attack from seaward; but as matters stand, there can, I believe, be little doubt that any ship possessing a single rifled 300-pounder, might, even without armour-plating, take up a safe position beyond the reach of the guns of Fort George, and not merely rake its batteries with impunity, but destroy the shipping within the harbour and inflict serious injury on the town.
4. It does not require any stretch of imagination to suppose that ships capable of doing this, and Foreign nations are fully a great deal more, would soon find their way here in the event of war. aware of the real state of things, the flags of France, the United States, &c., being oftener displayed here than our own; indeed, if common report is to be relied on, the captains of more than one American man-of-war have openly boasted that a couple of their gun-boats would be quite equal to the
task.
5. I know that the usual answer to such applications is, that the security of Mauritius must of necessity depend upon our retaining the command of the sea, and that, simultaneously with the commencement of hostilities, orders would be given to the Admiral on the station to detach'a sufficient naval force for the protection of the Island; but even assuming that, with the few ships at his disposal, and the greater interests at stake in India, this could be promptly done; the speed with which intelli- gence now travels is such that there would be ample time for the occurrence of some untoward event in the interval; for example, I had it on the authority of an officer of standing in Her Majesty's navy, who came here last month from the Cape of Good Hope, that a Spanish iron-clad had touched there a fortnight previously.
6. I beg, in conclusion, to assure your Grace that I am far from advocating any extraordinary expenditure; a landing might so easily be effected on the coast, and the forts in question are so commanded by the hills in and around Port Louis, that it does not require a military eye to perceive that such expenditure would be fruitless.
7. But seeing as I do that a very considerable surn of money is year after year devoted to the erection of case-mated barracks and other military works on a large scale at Fort George, whilst Fort William is in effect dismantled, with a view to the reconstruction of its embrasures with iron plates sent out from England, I venture very respectfully to urge, that no time should be lost in supplying a few of the heaviest Armstrong guns, in order to put an end to the risk of insult or piratical invasion, on the sudden outburst of one of those storms which of late have so often lowered on the political horizon.
I have, &c. (Signed) HENRY BARKLY.
His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos,
&c.
Acc.
&c.
17
No. 3.
COPY of a DESPATCH from the Duke of BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDos to Governor Sir HENRY BARKLY, K.C.B.
Downing Street, January 5, 1868.
(Confidential.) SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your confidential Despatch of the 20th of June, on the subject of the defences of Mauritins, and urging the expediency of providing an armament of heavy guns for the protection of Fort Louis.
I have to inform you that the Secretary of State for War, to whom your Despatch was referred. has stated that it is under consideration whether provision shall be made in the-Parliamentary estimates for 1868-69 for some powerful rifled guns for the Mauritius.
I have, &c.
Governor Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B.,
&c.
&c.
&c.
Year.
(Signed)
No. 4.
BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS.
IMPORTS into the United Kingdom from the undermentioned Places.
3
£
India.
China.
Australia. Ceylon. Hong Kong. Settlements.
Straits
186-1
1865
1860
1867
Totul
£ 52.287,000 37,395,000 36,901,000 25,489,000
152,072,000
£
£ 10,039,000
2,056,000 3,173,000 15,673,000
773,000 2,155,000 10,278,000 3,707.000 10,677,000 10,8-46,000 11,423,000 3,256,000 282,000
12,890,000 9,340,000
3,224,000 183,000
46,536,000 44,625,000 13,360.000 1.238,000
* Included under China.
£
•
1,609,000 1,435,000
7.255,000
1864
1865
1866
1867
Year.
Total
EXPORTS from the United Kingdom to the undermentioned Places.
India.
Chinu.
Australia.
Ceylon.
Hong Kong Settlements.
Straits
£ 19,595,000 18,260,000 20,009,000 21,844,000
£ 3,083,000 8,003,000 5,090,000 13,649,000 5,005,000
£ 11,858,000 13,339,000
£
9,637,000
£ 1,010,000 828,000 687,000 1,548,000 1,082,000 2,367,000 774,000 2,486,000
£ 1,185,000
1.440,000
1,086,000
2,068,000
80,000,000 16,781,000
48,477,000
3,281,000
8,031.000
6,679,000
£ 232,080,000
196,273,000
Total of Imports and Exports between India and the United Kingdom Total of Imports and Exports between the other places named and United Kingdom
:
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