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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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the Protestant clergy amongst the Catholic children of this community were referred to in emphatic terms and as a matter for congratulation.
We annex the report of that meeting published in the Mercantile Record and Commercial Gazette of the 22nd December 1886.
As an illustration of the feelings of General Hawley towards the Catholics we beg to quote the following fact which has just come to our knowledge:-
Four Catholics and one Protestant, Mr. William Newton, have not been re-appointed to the Council of Education, and have been replaced by three Protestants and two Catholics.
Are we not justified, in presence of such facts, in expressing our apprehension lest General Hawley, a Protestant who thus so openly proves his spirit of proselytism, should, if he were allowed to remain Governor of Mauritius, use bis authority to cause to be adopted measures adverse to the faith of our forefathers, and repugnant to the religious education of our children ?
For three years and a half our Governor, Sir John Pope Hennessy, has taught us to forget as far as possible the long injustice which Mauritians have suffered, and the many blows given to our religion by the Colonial Office.
Sir John Pope Hennessy assured us that there was an England animated with justice to which we could appeal. His rule, and the support he received from the Earl of Derby did much to justify what he said.
But the sad appointment of Mr. Clifford Lloyd, followed by the sending of the Commission, and ending by the appointment of General Hawley as Officer Administering the Government has destroyed all that good work.
We therefore formally protest against the acts of the Colonial Office and of Sir Hercules Robinson referred to in this letter.
We have, &c.
(Signed)
سم
No. 57.
Fc. ROBERTS,
Attorney-at-law and Landowner.
GEORGES KOENIO,
Attorney-at-law.
G. ROCHERY,
Attorney-at-law.
FELIX LEBIENDON,
Notary Public and Landowner.
G. TOURRETTE,
Notary's Clerk and Landowner.
G. PELTE,
Barrister-at-law (M.C.)
CB. THOMY Prror,
Municipal Councillor.
A. GEFFROY,
Landowner.
FIE. MUNTOUHES, JUD.,
Propriétaire.
R. E. VIGOUREUX,
Courtier Juré et Propriétaire.
SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., to the RIGHT HON. EDWARD
Stanhope, M.P. (Received February 9, 1887.)
Mauritius, January 17, 1887.
SIB,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt this day of your telegram of the 2nd instant, desiring me to return to England immediately on half salary to give explanations which will be required of me, on receipt of Sir Hercules Robinson's report..
2. By this time you will have received my despatch of the 18th of Decembert describing the circumstances under which Sir Hercules Robinson suspended me from office and salary.
3. You will observe that my Counsel are of opinion that Sir H. Robinson's proceedings were irregular and illegal, and that I concur with them.
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4. By this mail I transmit to you further and conclusive evidence of the illegality and injustice of what Sir Hercules Robinson has done.
5. I therefore confidently appeal to Her Majesty's Government to reverse, as far as possible, what has been done, and reinstate me in my Government.
6. If I am reinstated in my office and salary as Governor of Mauritius and that I am to take leave of absence as Governor, in the usual way, on half salary, I shall as soon as possible comply with your desire.
7. Awaiting your reply,
The Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P.,
SIB,
&c.
&c.
&c.
No. 58.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. POPE HENNESSY.
SIR J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G., to THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P. (Received February 9, 1887.)
Mauritius, January 17, 1887.
your
In the last paragraph of my despatch of the 18th of December,* I referred to the fact that the minutes and documents I enclosed, including Sir Hercules Robinson's letters to me, showed that the most important subjects of the inquiry specified in instruc- tions of the 29th September,† had been practically disposed of, in my favour, when the inquiry was disturbed and stopped by Sir Hercules Robinson.
2. The conclusion he then suddenly arrived at was, to use his own words, arrived at on general grounds which would not be affected by my defence.
3. He did not tell me then, nor at any time, what those general grounds were.
4. Your instructions specify distinct grounds of inquiry. You also, in effect, invite my subordinate officers to lay charges against me, which they did; they brought four charges and gave evidence in support of their charges.
•
5. The analysis of this evidence that I enclose, and the facts set forth in my December 18, despatches noted in the margin, § clearly show that the specific grounds of inquiry and the December 27, four charges could all be swept away by the defence.
6. That being so, if some instructions that I have not seen, drove Sir Hercules December 30, Robinson to suspend me from office, it is manifest that this conclusion would not be affected December by any defence on my part, no matter how complete and unanswerable it might be.
December 28, December 29,
31.
7. In my despatch of the 27th of December, I have referred to some of the causes of the Commission of Inquiry. I will say a few words now on the results, as far as they can yet be seen, of the inquiry.
8. Those results concern my reputation as a Colonial Governor, and they concern the reations between the Imperial Government and the Colony.
9. As regards the first of these questions, it may be asked what are the tests of good Government ? Sir Hercules Robinson finds the financial state of Mauritius to be satisfactory.
10. He finds that crime has decreased under my administration.
11. Prison discipline has improved. Flogging has ceased for the last three years. 12. The Chief Justice and the District Magistrates send in returns that contrast favourably with the past.
13. The Poor Law Commissioner, whose evidence was rejected by Sir Hercules Robinson on the ground that M. de Robillard could only speak French, was prepared to show that the wants of the poor were attended to: that I had established district hospitals: that I had removed some structural defects that I found existing in the Leper Asylum: that work rooms for sempstresses and industrious persons in distress were started and are successfully carried on: that the distress in Port Louis was relieved by employing local artizane in doing work for Government departments, which had hitherto been done through the Crown Agents in London.
14. The annual reports of the Chamber of Commerce show that the freedom of the port was encouraged that quay dues were abolished or simplified, and that new wharfi and sheds were constructed for the merchants.
-15. An increase of shipping has followed on the reduction of the harbour dues.
• No. 37.
↑ No. 44.
• No. 44.
↑ No. 24.
Not printed.
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Nos. 44, 50, 51, 52, 53, and 54.