PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ستسلا
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
116
It now only remains for me to offer a few observations upon the general condition of public affairs in Mauritius. After full investigation, the position appeared to me to be deplorable.
100. The relations between the Governor and a large number of English officials, as I have shown, were so strained as to render the smooth working of the administrative machinery of government impossible. The Governor had identified bimself thoroughly with one party in politics, and had allied himself to a section of the predominant religious denomination which was at issue with the ecclesiastical authority. He had gratuitously avowed himself the champion of the crcoles of Mauritius as against the English. Through his partizanship he had failed to secure the confidence and respect of the community as a whole. The breach between himself and his official, political, and religious opponents had become too wide to be repaired. The quarrel appeared to be irreconcilable, and there seemed no chance whatever of peace and good govern- ment so long as Sir John Pope Hennessy remained at the head of affairs. For these reasons I became convinced that a change in the administration of the Government was necessary, and that a delay of some months in taking that step, pending a reference home, would be prejudicial, and even, perhaps, dangerous, to the public interest of the Colony..
101. I accordingly determined to assume the Government of Mauritius under Her Majesty's Cominission of the 25th September last, which course I adopted on the 15th December. Under the same authority, I nominated General Hawley to administer as my successor on my departure. The reasons which constrained me take this step without receiving Sir John Pope Hennessy's formal defence will be explained in another despatch.
102. I left Port Louis in Her Majesty's Ship "Raleigh" on the 18th December, and reached Cape Town on the 31st December, when I at once resumed the administration of the Government of the Cape Colony and my duties as Her Majesty's High Com- missioner for South Africa.
103. I annex to this despatch the Minutes of the meetings of the Royal Commission in Mauritius, and the transcripts of the shorthand-writer's notes of the evidence taken at those meetings. • I return also the original correspondence which accompanied your despatch of the 29 th September last.t
I have, &c.
(Signed) HERCULES ROBINSON,
&c.
The Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P.,
&c.
&c.
No. 49.
Royal Commissioner.
The RIGHT HON. SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, G.C.M.G., to the RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P. (Received February 7, 1887.)
Government House, Cape Town, January 8, 1887.
SIB,
I PROPOSE in this despatch to explain to you the circumstances which led me to assume the Government of Mauritius, and to leave the island without receiving Sir John Pope Hennessy's formal defence.
2. When I met Sir John Pope Hennessy for the first time on the 4th November, upon landing, I stated to him that you had expressed the opinion that a month would probably suffice for the inquiry, and that it was very desirable I should not be longer away from South Africa than could be avoided. He replied that he would do all in his power to facilitate my early departure, and that, looking to my instructions, he did not see what there was to occupy me for even a month,
3. I told him on the same occasion that he was at liberty to be present during the sittings of the Commission, so as to hear what might be urged against him, and to cross-
117
examine the witnesses. He replied that he would do as I wished in the matter, but he thought he had better not be present. It would, he said, involve an interruption of the daily administrative business of the Government, and might be a restraint upon the witnesses, whom he wished to be free to say what they pleased about him. I acquiesced in this view, and told him, if he decided not to attend the sittings of the Commission, I should send him the evidence of each day, as fast as it could be transcribed from the shorthand notes. He could then make what observations he pleased upon it by Minute, and, if he desired, have the witnesses re-examined. With this he professed himself quite satisfied.
4. The Commission sat and took evidence for the first time on the 10th November. Upon the 13th I caused an intimation to be inserted in each of the seven morning papers of Port Louis to the effect that I should be obliged to leave for the Cape about the 6th December, and would be glad if those who desired to give evidence would communicate with the Secretary, who would arrange with them for a hearing. Before inserting this notice, I mentioned the purport of it to the Governor, who said he did not see what there was to detain me so long as till the 6th December.
5. The evidence of each day's sitting was sent regularly to the Governor, as fast as the shorthand notes were written out. By a Minute dated the 13th November, he commented on the evidence given at the first sitting on the 10th in reference to his alleged interference at the elections, and Mr. Ferguson's case.
His Minute led to the re-examination of Mr. Ferguson, and to an examination by the Secretary, Mr. Round, of certain entries in the books of the old Oriental Bank, referred to by the Governor.
6. By a Minute dated the 24th November the Governor returned the Minutes of the second, third, and fourth days' sittings, held on the 15th, 16th, and 17th November, and observed that the evidence of Mr. E. Antelme, Dr. Beaugeard, and Mr. de Coriolis added nothing really substantial to their previous allegations, and did not seem to disprove in any way the statements in his despatch of the 29th September 1886. He added he had noted some points in the evidence of Bishop Scarisbrick and Abbé Cox respecting which he should make a separate Minute.
7. No further Minute was, however, received from the Governor upon that subject, or upon any of the subsequent evidence, which was regularly transmitted, in original, for his perusal.
8. Upon the 2nd December, not having received from the Governor any further observations upon the evidence, I wrote the note, a copy of which marked (A 2), is annexed, asking when he could let me have his remarks, observing that he had received all the evidence up to the end of the twelfth sitting, on the 27th November, which closed the case against him of the Engbeh officials, and adding that I was very anxious to get away as soon after the 6th as possible.
9. Upon the 3rd December I received the reply, a copy of which marked (B) is annexed. In this note he proposed that, with a view to save time, I should go through the evidence of the English officials and of the memorialists with him, and put aside whatever I thought needed no explanation. This proposal appeared to me an improper one. He had had the original evidence sent to him from the beginning, day by day, as fast as it could be transcribed, and had had nearly all the evidence of the memorialists, and the most important part of the evidence of the English officials, for a considerable time; and yet, on the 3rd December, he had not, as far as I could see, even commenced bis defence on those heads. He knew how pressed I was for time, and his proposal certainly appeared to me to be in effect a threat of indefinite delay if I would not make my report in concert with him.
10. I replied on the same day, in a note a copy of which is annexed marked (C), that I could not follow the course he suggested; that the English officials and the memoria. lists had advanced definite charges against him; that they had given evidence on oath in support of each of those charges; that it rested with him to give such reply as he might think necessary, and I should then be in a position to make up my mind "on the case, but that in the meanwhile, I must decline to say that any of the charges, or any sworn evidence in support of them, could be "put aside as needing no explanation." I added that, if he thought it would lighten his labour and shorten his work to reply to the various charges, by giving verbal evidence before the Commission, he was quite at liberty to do so.
11. The 6th December, the day which had, three weeks before, been, with his con- currence, publicly announced as that fixed for my departure, passed without my hearing further from the Governor, and I began to conjecture that, as I had declined to arrange
• Not printed.
↑ No. 24.
• No. $1.
P8