PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TELEC.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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Enclosure 1 in No. 55.
To Her most Gracious Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of
India.
May it please Your Majesty,
We, the undersigned inhabitants of Mauritius, beg most respectfully to approach Your Majesty and to state:
That it was with a feeling of deep grief and concern that we learnt that the Right Honourable Sir Hercules Robinson has suspended Sir John Pope Hennessy and assumed the Government of this Colony; we were the more surprised at this unexpected decision because it was taken before the inquiry he was then making was closed, and before his Excellency the Governor had presented his defence.
We confidently submit that there was nothing either in the circunstances of this Colony, or in the acts of his Excellency, which could render so sudden and extreme a measure necessary or even expedient; on the other hand, we are convinced that, instead of putting an end to or diminishing the political divisions which may exist in the community, and which, in our opinion, do not amount to enmity or to antagonism, it is, on the contrary, calculated to produce quite a different effect.
It is not, therefore, on behalf of Sir Johns Pope Hennessy alone, but also in the interest of the whole of the Colony that we appeal to Your Majesty. We earnestly pray that full justice be done to his Excellency, and that the general policy which he has followed here, with the concurrence of several of the Secretaries of State for the Colonies, and in conformity with the ideas of some of the most distinguished of his predecessors, should not in any way be departed from.
The main principle of that policy is that the Natives of this Island should be treated with confidence, that they should have a large and direct influence in connexion with the legislation, finance, and public affairs generally of this country, and that, as a rule, the posts in the public service should be filled by the ablest and worthiest of the Mauritians, due regard being had to the vested rights of non-Mauritians.
We beg most humbly, but at the same time most earnestly, to urge that this just and liberal policy is the best calculated to secure to the British Crown the permanent and indissoluble attachment of Your Majesty's subjects in this Island.
And, as in duty bound, we shall ever pray.
January 14, 1887.
SIR,
(Signed) V. NAZ, Member for Savanne.
H. ADAM, Member for Flacq.
H. LÉCLÉZIO, Member for Moka.
VINCENT GEFFROY, Member for Black River.
G. J. K-VERN, Mayor of Pt. Louis.
The Hon. Mr. PORTAL, Member for Grand Port, has signed on a separate list, and his absence from Port Louis prevents his signing here.
GEORGE GUIBErt, M.L.C.
W. A. EDWARDS, D.M.D., M.L.C.
Gen. Arlanda, M.L.C.
Enclosure 2 in No. 55.
EMN. BASSET,
Secretary.
Port Louis, Mauritius, January 15, 1887. We consider it as our duty, not only to ourselves as Mauritians, but also as representing the most important constituencies of this Island, and therefore a great majority of its inhabitants, respectfully to submit to your consideration the following observations which are unavoidably called for by the petition which is to be presented to Her most Gracious Majesty by those who advocated Sir John Pope Hennessy's policy during his administration, and by the followers whose support they have commanded or enticed.
2. The two first paragraphs of the petition intimate unreservedly a want of confidence of the petitioners in the justice of the decision arrived at by the Royal Commissioner, and as pointedly represent that decision as having been taken in defiance of all the
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ordinary rules of common justice, all which may be considered as insulting imputations against the character of one who, in that particular action, represented the highest authority of the Empire.
"
3. The end of the second paragraph contains two misrepresentations and one erroneous appreciation of the results likely to be obtained by the removal of Sir J. P. Hennessy from the Government of Mauritius. In the first place, the petitioners state that " the "political divisions which exist in the community do not amount to enmity or to antagonism." Upon this point the Royal Commissioner will no doubt convey to your Lordship his positive impressions, as already shown by the declaration made by him in assuming the Governorship of this Colony; but we cannot help, in the meantime, giving a most peremptory denial to the assertion made by the petitioners that there are no political divisions among the members of the Mauritian community. On the contrary, we beg to assert most emphatically that they amount to bitter enmity and antagonism, going the length of estranging from one another members of the same family who were formerly united.
4. In the second place, we are confidently of opinion that the removal of Sir J. P. Hennessy is absolutely necessary for restoring harmony and concord amongst the different classes of the community. His policy it was which animated parties against each other, which represented the English as imbued with hostile and contemptuous feelings towards the population. Sir J. P. Hennessy having brought about the actual excited state both of feelings and minds, nothing but his withdrawal will succeed with the aid of time, in restoring peace and union which existed before his arrival.
5. The third and fourth paragraphs would represent Sir J. P. Hennessy's line of conduct with regard to the awarding of official situations to Mauritians, as inaugurated by him, whilst the truth is that ever since Sir P. Julyan's visit to the Island, and the framing of his report on its administration, numerous instances are on record of Mauritians being called to fill up some of the most important situations in our adminis- tration, and the Imperial Government was showing itself more and more disposed to follow the advices given by Sir Penrose. The indiscriminate and sweeping theory of Sir J. P. Hennessy renders it too evident that its action was aimed at the English participation in the management of our Colonial affairs, and that the unvarying support he gave a certain limited portion of the creole element had no other object in view.
6. As for "securing to the British Crown the permanent and indissoluble attachment of Her Majesty's subjects in this Island" we do affirm that for at least the last 30 years such attachment was never put in question, and it is only under Sir J. P. Hennessy's administration that we have been given to read in public print, and in several daily periodicals, overtly advocating the Governor's policy, such clamorous and abusive language as the one lately used against the Colonial Office, which we deprecate with just indignation and contempt.
The grounds put forward in the petition to the Queen are too flimsy to be of any weight in the consideration (of a question of such importance as the absolute necessity of removing Sir J. P. Hennessy from the Government of Mauritius, and we cannot but accept that document as the desperate effort of a limited, but all absorbing party, which struggles to the last for preserving the illegitimate and disastrous preponderance which it had acquired under the leadership of the late Governor.
7. It is rumoured that a delegate will be sent to plead the cause of Sir J. Pope Hennessy before the Colonial Office, and defend his policy and administration. It is self-evident that such a delegate will represent only those who are the supporters of Sir Pope in this Colony, that is to say, those who signed the petition and address above alluded to, and the name of the delegate selected, Mr. William Newton, is by itself a sufficient criterion of the value of the delegation entrusted to him.
We have, &c. (Signed)
O. BEAUGEARD, M.D.,
Senior Member for Port Louis.
G. DE CORIOLIB.
CH. ANTELME. CHARLES PLANEL.
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To the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
&c.
&o.
&c.
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