PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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I have now the honour to transmit to you a copy of the despatch which I have addressed by this mail to Sir H. Robinson, respecting the subjects with which he will have to deal; this will give you full information as to the scope of the inquiry, and it is obviously not desirable that I should now enter into a detailed examination of any of the questions which he will consider, or express any opinions of my own; I have indeed not attempted to form any conclusions, believing that this cannot be done satisfactorily without personal investigation in Mauritius.
I have, &c.
Sir J. P. Hennessy.
(Signed)
No. 29.
EDWARD STANHOPE.
THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P., to the RIGHT HON.
SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, G.C.M.G.
Downing Street, October 7, 1886.
SIB,
WITH reference to my despatch of the 29th September, regarding the inquiry about to be held into the affairs of Mauritius, I regret to inform you that the Lieutenant Governor of Mauritius, Mr. Clifford Lloyd, now on leave in England, has been declared by Dr. Gage Browne to be medically unfit to return to the Colony, and that I shall accordingly call upon him for detailed particulars regarding his grievances against the Governor, to be transmitted to you direct to Mauritius in due course.
2. Meanwhile I enclose copy of a lettert which I have received from Mr. Lloyd, in regard to one point, as to which I asked him for an explanation, viz., the matter referred to in paragraph 3 of my despatch to Sir J. P. Hennessy, of the 2nd September,† copy of which you will find among the papers already communicated to you.
3. I have this day telegraphed to you reporting Mr. Lloyd's inability to return to Mauritius, and also informing you that I approve your proposal to take a legal adviser, but thought it unadvisable to remove Mr. Shippard from his post in Bechuanaland for that purpose.
Sir Hercules Robinson.
I have, &c.
(Signed) EDWARD STANHOPE.
No. 30.
GOVERNOR SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., to the RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P. (Received October 22, 1886.)
(No. 384.) SIR,
Government House, Mauritius, September 28, 1886.
Ar the request of Mr. de Coriolis I transmit herewith a printed letter he has addressed to you, dated the 31st of August, and which reached me after the mail of the 31st of August had been made up.
2. The last paragraph is as follows:--
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I sincerely trust that you will not allow
to be believed here that British statesmen
care so little about the respect due to the Crown that they keep, as Her Majesty's representative in one of her Colonies, an Irishman, who, being unable to give satisfaction to his inherited prejudices and hatred against England, in working with the Parnellite party, to which he belongs, at the disruption of the Empire, takes his revenge in spreading disloyalty towards the Crown among a conquered people."
3. I cannot see anything in the letter from the beginning to the end that it is necessary for me to answer.
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The Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P.,
&c.
&c.
• No. 24.
I have, &c. (Signed)
↑ Not printed.
J. POPE HENNESSY.
SIB,
rumour,
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Enclosure in No. 30.
Port Louis, Mauritius, August 31, 1886. On the 6th May last I addressed to your predecessor a letter respecting a then current, to the effect that during the electoral campaign, the Honourable Mr. Beyts, the then Acting Colonial Secretary, had promised, on behalf of his Excellency the Governor, to Mr. J. A. Ferguson, one of the candidates for clection in the electoral district of Port Louis, a seat as a nominated member of the New Council of Government, in case he would consent to withdraw his candidature, and induce his voters to vote for Messrs. Newton and Guibert, two prominent members of Sir John Pope Hennessy's clique. I have up to now received no official intimation of Lord Granville's action on this letter.
2. Having just heard that, in compliance with Lord Granville's instructions, his Excellency has obtained from Mr. J. A. Ferguson a narrative of what took place between Mr. Beyts and himself, and that, despite what is stated by Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Beyts has drawn up a report, in which he declares that in making an overture to this latter he acted from his own initiative, and had not been authorised by the Governor to speak on his behalf, I think it my duty to take advantage of the few hours that remain till the departure of the French packet to submit to your consideration certain remarks which may enlighten you.
If
3. Lord Granville's despatch arrived by the last Cape mail on the 11th instant. From that date his Excellency the Governor has been, it is rumoured, seen calling several times at Mr. Beyts's residence at Moka, and conferring with him for hours. Mr. Beyts is actually on leave, and having met with an accident, is unable to leave his room. my information concerning Mr. Beyts's report is correct, I have no hesitation in saying that there is not the shadow of a doubt that this report has been concocted, and that bis Excellency the Governor, owing to Mr. Beyts's weak-mindedness and lack of courage, has had no difficulty in extorting from him what I boldly call a false statement.
4. If Mr. Beyts had acted from his own impulse in speaking to Mr. Ferguson about the withdrawal of his candidature, I submit that when I put to him in Council of Government the question respecting the rumour concerning the promise made by him, his Excellency's duty was to order him to make, by a forinal declaration, all doubt disappear in the public mind as to Her Majesty's representative's share in an act of bribery. Nay more, if Mr. Beyts was alone culpable, when the matter was brought to his Excellency's knowledge, was it not his Excellency's duty to have an inquiry made into it?
5. Now that Mr. Beyts is said to have claimed the full responsibility of the overture which he made to Mr. Ferguson, if his report is really to this effect, am at a loss to understand how his Excellency the Governor can manage to keep in a high official situation a public servant, who has abused of his position of Colonial Secretary and of official adviser of the head of the Colony, to induce a candidate for election to withdraw his candidature, so as to insure the return of other candidates, an act punishable under Art. 27 of the Letters Patent altering the constitution of the Council of Government.
6. Without attempting to press upon you any conclusion whatever, I think that I am allowed to say that his Excellency the Governor's doings, his undue protection to a dangerous clique, whose political aims have frightened this country, his earnest desire to be supported, in the Council of Government, by men who share in his hatred against all that is English, and who are the channels through which he stirs up ill feelings againet the Colonial Office, are circumstantial evidence tending to show that M. Beyts is, in the present instance, but a mere scape-goat.
7. In concluding this letter, Sir, I will respectfully remind you that if it is addressed to a Minister entrusted with Her Majesty's confidence, it comes from one who is entitled to speak in the name of hundreds of Her Majesty's subjects, whom he officially represents. In the name of these latter, I will appeal to you, and I will ask whether it is consistent with the dignity and honour of the British Crown that Her Majesty should continue to be represented in Mauritius by a Governor who can no more inspire neither confidence nor respect to the greatest majority of Her Majesty's subjects in this island, owing to his being publicly accused of an act of bribery. I sincerely trust that you will not allow it to be believed here that British statesmen care so little about the respect due to the Crown, that they keep as Her Majesty's representative in one of her Colonies an Irish. man, who, being unable to give satisfaction to his inherited prejudices and hatred against England, in working with the Parnellite party, to which he belongs, at the
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