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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disturb the harmony which existed among the different classes of society, and to the formation in the Colony of a party hostile to England.
By the logic of facts, it has come to pass that instead of only one journal there are
to-day in this Colony no fewer than three which are hostile to England. One of the three has just been compelled to suspend its publication, momentarily without doubt, the English printer having refused to continue to print it, because it had published an article in which the editor expressed the hope that Ireland would obtain by dynamite that which she had failed to obtain legally, namely "Home Rule."
One cannot help being struck by the coincidence that the principal editors of the journals to which we have just alluded are almost all close relatives of the most intimate friends of the Governor.
4o. Sir John Pope Hennessy has aggrieved the middle class by the undue protection given to a clique whose aims are both ambitious and dangerous. You are doubtless aware that the middle class, in this Colony, is composed chiefly of persons of mixed blood, to whose forefathers the enjoyment of civil rights, of which they had been deprived under the French Government, was granted by England; and this class, whose education, activity, and industry are second to none, having been freed by the British Government from all the prejudices and injuries of the past, cherishes towards England deep feelings of gratitude, and is loyal to the core.
When the Electoral Commission reported on the Franchise, the organs of this class protested against the high qualifications recommended by it, representing that the numerous persons composing the said class would be sacrificed. It became Sir John Pope Hennessy, as the representative of the Crown, to take into consideration, the claims of the middle class to have its share in the election of Members for the Council of Government, or at all events to make known to the Secretary of State the wishes of that numerous traction of our community; yet he acted in a way calculated to thwart the influence which the middle class might have exercised in the Legislative Council of the Colony, and went so far as to misrepresent facts to Lord Derby.
5. In his despatch dated 24th December 1884, reporting on the franchise suggested by the Electoral Commission, despite the vigorous opposition made to this franchise, both in the Commission and in the press, Sir John Pope Hennessy writes: "The "Commission I appointed was rather large in number, but it was a thoroughly "representative one, and its suggestions met with public approval." Moreover, when it had been clearly established by Dr. Meldrum that no reliance could be placed upon the figures furnished by the then Registrar General, as to the probable number of electors under the high franchise recommended by the Coinmission, Sir John Pope Hennessy wrote the following, which could not but mislead the Secretary of State, and prejudice the middle class in the above-quoted report.
Under it (the franchise) the Registrar General calculates that there will be 9,511 voters; and that 6,637 of those voters will belong to the general population and 2,874 to the Indian population. Taking the total population of the island at 370,000, such a large number of electors with so high a franchise compares favourably with the Cape of Good Hope and other Colonies, and seems to support the view that there is in Mauritius a numerous and well-to-do middle class."
6. Not only did Sir John Pope Hennessy attempt to keep away the middle class from the electoral roll, but during the last electoral campaign, seeing that his policy would be condemned by the electors belonging to this class, he intervened to make candidates fail at the poll. One of the reasous which lead us to entertain this opinion is the alleged promise made, in the Governor's name, by the Honourable Mr. Beyts, the then Acting Colonial Secretary, to Mr. Ferguson, to secure the latter a seat in the Council us à nominee member, if he would retire and renounce his candidature in favour of Messrs. Newton and Guibert, the two candidates set up by the partisans of Sir John Pope Hennessy against two of your memorialists, Messrs. Beaugeard and de Coriolis.
The documents relative to this attempt at electoral corruption being actually in your hands, you can judge whether the conclusions that we infer from them are admissible or not.
It is not possible for us to allude to this scandal without expressing the indignation that we and our electors felt on learning that Mr. Beyts had been called again to perform the duties of Colonial Secretary. What confidence, we ask, can the Government iuspire in this Colony, if those who should give an example of respect to the laws can violate them with impunity, and in so doing acquire a title to the favour and protection of the representatives of Her Majesty?
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7o. One of the results of Sir John Pope Hennessy's policy is the acrimonious tone in which newspaper controversy has been carried on since the sitting of the Electoral Commission, but especially of late, when it has degenerated into invective. All questions, nay, those of principle, are transformed into personal questions; and that mode of dealing with the decisions to be arrived at on most important measures affecting colonial interests, or administrative matters, has ruled the inode of voting even at the Legislative Council.
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At present, the island represents two camps, jealously and invidiously watching cach other; the one, taking advantage of the open support of the Chief of the Colony in order to promote its own interests, the other, wounded in its feelings, cramped aspirations, and witnessing with deep apprehension the successful policy of an adminis- trator governing in the name of Great Britain, yet unconsciously preparing all the elements necessary for estranging the population from its allegiance to and sympathy for the mother-country.
8. We also complain that Sir John Pope Hennessy is of an absolute and despotic disposition, which is & serious obstacle to the proper administration of affairs in the Colony. Without speaking of the antecedents of his Excellency, or making allusion to Hong Kong, where he so often changed his Colonial Secretaries, we take the liberty of reminding you, first, that the Honourable Mr. Brace found it necessary to leave the island suddenly, and to solicit a situation in another Colony; and, second, that the Honourable Clifford Lloyd, an officer of great merit, only remained six months in Mauritius. Is it permissible to believe that facts such as these can occur without imposing upon Her Majesty's Government the obligation of making them the subject of a conscientious investigation?
We have reason to believe that if the Honourable Messrs. Bruce and Lloyd were questioned, both of them would declare that a man who respects his dignity and honour is unable to serve as Colonial Secretary under Sir John Pope Hennessy, and that they could cite numerous facts to support their opinion in this respect.
9o. The interference of the Governor in ecclesiastical matters would be calculated to raise in the Colony an outburst of general indignation if the facts were better known. It will be sufficient for us to cite some examples:
(I.) He has continued the salary of two Roman Catholic priests, Revds. McDonald and Boncherit, who were interdicted by their Bishop on account of bad conduct, notwithstanding that the Bishop refused to sign their pay sheets, and he even granted them leave of absence on full pay and half pay.
(11.) He maintained his protection to one of these priests while the latter continued, notwithstanding the interdict pronounced against him, to say mass, and to make use of a church which had been ordered to be closed, which in the eyes of Roman Catholics is a double sacrilege.
(III.) He started the pretention that the Bishop, without the Governor's authority, could not transfer a priest from one parish to another.
(IV.) He has sustained the pretention of Abbé Curtin to be vicar general, although the Bishop had named Abbé Cox to that office.
(V.) He refused to recognise the nomination of Abbé Macdonne! by the Abbé Cox, the effect of which was to deprive the island of Rodrigues of a priest for one year.
(VI.) Not content with interfering in matters of ccclesiastical authority, he adopted against the Roman Catholic Bishop first, and, after his departure, against the Vicar- General, Abbé Cox, a system of vexatious interference unworthy of a representative of the Queen.
A few facts to prove this :-
(I.) On several occasions he has thrown out in his despatches malicious insinuations against the Bishop, insinuations which the Secretary of State himself has stated to be injurious and without proof.
(II.) A priest interdicted by the Bishop having published in the papers a forged letter stating that the original was in the hands of the Governor, the latter remained silent and did not deny the fact, although he was challenged to produce the document.
(III.) He accused the Bishop, in an official despatch, of having sold the Catholic Church by according the precedence to the Protestant Bishop, while he knew that such was not the fact and that he had said himself to the Bishop that his conduct in the circumstances had been admirable.
(IV.) He refused also to grant to a Roman Catholic priest the means of visiting the dependencies of Mauritius, Diego, and others, where there is no priest, and that notwith- standing that the Captain of the sloop "Harmony " had declared that the thing could be done without increase of expense.
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