PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTILIC.O. 885
|| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |π
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
We do not think that any distinction between these two classes (Le, common offenders and prisoners of war) is desirable, and we consider that if permission to carry prisoners is granted it should apply without distinction.
is not strictly applicable to the case of Indians who
The phrase "prisoners of war are at the outside mere insurgents.
We think that Monsieur Mariscal's proposal may be acceded to in the case of all prisoners who are Mexican subjects carried on Mexican war vessels or transports.
If as a matter of policy it is considered desirable to give a licence facilitating the deportation of Indian or other prisoners, Her Majesty's Government is, in our opinion, entitled to give such licence.
A
We do not think the case should be dealt with by Convention. Her Majesty's Government does not propose to enter into any permanent engagement, and we think that a despatch stating the terms upon which Her Majesty's Government propose to grant a licence for passage through the British territorial waters would answer all purposes. It should be distinctly stated that the licence may be at any time revoked at the pleasure of Her Majesty's Government.
We have, &c.,
The Marquess of Salisbury, K.G.`
1
RICHARD E. WEBSTER. ROBERT B. FINLAY.
1947.
SIR.
No. 205.
(MAURITIUS.)
LAW OFFICERS TO COLONIAL OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice,
23rd January, 1899.
WE were honoured with your commands signified in Sir Edward Wingfield's letter of the 21st December last, stating that he was directed by you to transinit to us The Octo- the accompanying copy of a despatch with three enclosures from the Governor of ber, 1898. Mauritius, which raised a question of consi lerable importance with regard to the status of the Roman Catholic Church in that Colony.
That the Draft Law Revision Ordinance, 1898, which formed the first enclosure to the despatch, and was now in Committee of the Council of Government, included in Schedule A, among the enactments declared to be in force. No. 1 of the Code Farquhar (the Capitulation of the Island, dated 3rd December, 1810) and certain Proclamations ancillary thereto. $
That Article 8 of the Capitulation was to the effect that "the inhabitants shall preserve their religion, customs and laws," and Article 1 of the Proclamation of 28th December, 1810 (Code Farquhar 2014), ran as follows: "Tous les établissements ecclésiastiques et les personnes qui remplissent les fonctions religieuses seront conservés sous le Gouvernement Britannique, sous les mêmes lois et réglemens qui existaient en cette ile, lors de la reddition."
That Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris (30th May. 1814) which ceded the Isle of France (Mauritius) and its Dependencies to the British Crown was silent on the questions dealt with in Article 8 of the Capitulation. That the text of Article 8 of the Treaty was to be found on page 9 of Volume 1 of the Laws of Mauritius.
That in Committee on the Bill one of the members of the Council, Mr. Guibert, Q.C., gave notice that he would move to include in Schedule A., as being still in force in Mauritius, in virtue of Article 8 of the Capitulation, an Arrêté of the Assemblée Générale of the Island, of 17th February, 1791, adopting a Décret of the National Assembly of France, of the 2nd November, 1789, and a further Décret of the same Assembly of the 14th and 20th April, 1790.
That the text of this Arrêté was to be found on page 8 of Mr. W. Greene's pamphlet on the Official Status and Rights of the Roman Catholic Church in Mauritius (enclosure 2 to the despatch); and the material articles of the two Décrets of the National Assembly of France which it adopted were printed on pages 9 and 10 of the same publication. That it would be seen that the effect of these Décrets was (1) to place all ecclesiastical property at the disposition of the State, on condition of providing in a suitable manner for the expenses of the religious establishment and "the maintenance of its ministers, and (2) to lay down in considerable detail the procedure to be adopted, viz., that the Roman Catholic clergy were to be paid by the Crown, that the church expenses were to be borne on the yearly budget, and that the necessary taxation for those objects was to be imposed on all the taxpayers irrespective of creer.
That since the annexation of the Island to the British Crown other religious bodies besides the Roman Catholic Church had made good their footing in Mauritius, and there had been not infrequent legislation with regard to Ecclesiastical matters. That the churches
of England and Scotland as well as the Roman Catholic Church had been the subject of such legislation. That the laws which had been so passed and were still unrepealed would be found in a tabulated form on page 175 of Volume 2 of the "Laws of Mauritius," and that special attention was directed to the Ordinance, No. 27 of 1890, which dealt with the question of grants to Established Churches, and provided for the yearly payment from the public Treasury of sums of varying amounts to the Ecclesiastical bodies concerned for the payment of ministers and maintenance of fabrics, viz., Rs. 6,5×3 to the Established Church of Scotland, Rs. 34,533 to the Church of England, and Rs. 02.520 to the Roman Catholic Church. That this Ordinance repealed two former Ordinances, No. 54 of 1814, and No. 6 of 1851, relating to the same subject.
That the question of the position of the Roman Catholic Church in Mauritius, in virtue of Article 8 of the Capitulation, was dealt with in a despatch by the Earl of Derby to Governor Sir J. Pope Hennessy, dated March 14th, 1884, an extract from
6.5-1.99 Wt 23147 D&S
5