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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

Sir.

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Reply of His Excellency the Governor to the Petition praying for the Expulsion of De Plevits from the Colony.

To Dr. Arthur Edwards, Port Louis.

Mauritius, Colonial Secretary's Office, November 14, 1871.

I AM directed by the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of a Petition signed by yourself and 949 other persons, requesting him to order the immediate expulsion of M. Adolphe de Plevitz from the Colony.

M. de Plevitz's expulsion is sought on the grounds that "he has interfered with the safety of the inhabitants of the island; that his conduct and principles are contrary ts good order and public tranquillity; and that he has not shown becoming respect towards the Colonial Institutions."

Mr. de Plevitz is considered by the Petitioners to have rendered himself guilty of these offences by the publication of a pamphlet which, in their opinion, is "nothing more than a wholesale libel upon the Colony at large."

The power of the Governor to expel individuals from the Colony is one which has rarely been used except in the case of those legally convicted of crime, and for the exercise of which under other circumstances, unless in cases of the gravest emergency, and under the pressure of a paramount necessity, the Governor would undoubtedly and justly incur Her Majesty's most serious displeasure.

No such emergency in the present case exists, nor does it appear to his Excellency that any necessity for his intervention has been shown by the Petitioners; for the publication of a libel, supposing M. de Plevitz to have been guilty of such publication, would be an offence cognizable by the ordinary tribunals of the Colony, and consequently not one in which the Governor could with propriety be expected to resort to the use of the exceptional powers possessed by him.

If M. de Plevitz has violated the law he is amenable to punishment by the law. If he has not done so, he is entitled to enjoy in Mauritius, the same liberty of speech and action which he would possess in any other part of Her Majesty's dominions. His Excellency must therefore decline to have recourse to the arbitrary measure which the Petitioners desire him to adopt.

The Petitioners are undoubtedly entitled to form their own opinions with respect to the conduct of public affairs, and as long as they transgress the provisions of no law to express those opinions in any form which they may think proper. His Excellency does not therefore feel called upon to notice the criticisms of the Petitioners upon the course pursued by the Government in this matter, a course which although adopted in entire accordance with the highest legal authorities in the Colony, does not appear to have been so fortunate as to obtain the approbation of the Petitioners.

But as one to whom the honour and good repute of the Colony are not indifferent, the Governor cannot refrain from giving expression to the regret with which he has perceived the statement that, "none of the Petitioners blame the conduct of M. Jules Lavoquer," who has lately been found guilty of an assault, with premeditation, and lying in wait, upon the person of M. de Plevitz.

He finds it difficult to believe, even on their own assertion, that among the numerous body who have signed the Petition none are to be found who blame the deliberate commission of a breach of the peace, none who perceive that when charges are met not by argument, but by violence, a weight is at once given to those charges which they would not otherwise possess, and a notoriety and circulation afforded them which they would not otherwise attain, none who feel the disgrace which such proceedings reflect on a community where they are practised with impunity, or who understand that their toleration would produce grave mischief not only through their direct effects, but from the impressions unfavourable to the Colony to which they would elsewhere inevitably give rise.

If, however, this statement so far as the Petitioners themselves are concerned be unfortunately well founded, his Excellency is confident that they do not, in this respect, represent the community on whose behalf they have undertaken to speak.

On the contrary, for the credit of Mauritius, he rejoices to believe that almost every man of intelligence, education, and good feeling in the Colony is as fully aware as himself that dignity and self-respect are best asserted by calmness and moderation, that violence, even when not unprovoked, must be at once repressed by the strong hand of justice, that freedom of discussion and argument is indispensable to the development of a community, and that without them it would be difficult to bring to light even minor administrative abuses or to effect their reform; nor could he without injustico

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suppose that they fail to recognize with him the danger, the injustice, and the folly of proceedings such as those which the Petitioners recommend, and those of which, though forbidden by the law, they do not hesitate to approve.

I have, &c. (Signed)

EDWARD NEWTON, Colonial Secretary.

No. 22.

Mauritius, November 10, 1871.

Governor the Hon. Sir A. Gordon to the Earl of Kimberley.—(Received December 19.)

(Confidential.) My Lord,

IN reply to the inquiry contained in your Lordship's Confidential despatch of the 11th September, I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion that an inquiry of the nature contemplated by your Lordship would be of the utmost utility, and indeed, without some such investigation, it is impossible to speak with any confidence as to the position or treatment of the immigrants resident in this island.

2. I have already expressed to your Lordship my belief that, notwithstanding many serious and manifest defects in the Immigration Laws, the treatment of the immigrants upon estates is, as a rule kind and just; but, in the absence of anything like efficient inspection or accurate returns, this can only be taken as an impression, nor can it be denied that statements to an opposite effect have been made, not only in the pamphlet recently published by M. de Plevitz (whose assertions, so far as they are made on his own authority alone, cannot be said to carry much weight), but also by other persons of intelligence and character, and that an opinion most unfavourable to the existing system was about three years since publicly expressed, in his place in the Council of Government, by the Colonial Treasurer, a gentleman whose experience of the island is of long standing, and whose integrity is above suspicion.

3. The proceedings in the case of M. de Plevitz, reported in my despatch No. 197 of the 17th November, would moreover appear to show that an inquiry conducted here by persons connected with the island would be made under pressure of an intimidation which would seriously detract from the value of the conclusions at which they might arrive.

4. It appears to me, therefore, that such a Commission as that which so ably conducted the late inquiry in British Guiana affords the only means of satisfactorily ascertaining the true condition of the labouring population, and of securing the provision of efficient remedies for defects in the existing system of immigration, whether those defects are to be found in the law itself or in its practical administration. 5. I may add that should such a Commission be appointed it is, in my opinion, absolutely essential that one at least of its members should be well acquainted with the position and treatment of immigrants in the West Indies a comparison between the two systems being of the utmost importance in arriving at a just impression as to the position of the immigrant here-and should the services of any of the gentlemen who were employed in the conduct of the late inquiry in British Guiana be available, their presence on the Commission would, I have no doubt, be attended with much advantage.

6. In making, in this confidential form, such a suggestion, your Lordship will not, I hope, think that I have gone beyond the bounds of propriety,

I have, &c.

(Signed) ARTHUR GORDON.

P.8. November 15.-Since I wrote this despatch the Chamber of Agriculture has itself requested the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry.

The Memorial of the Chamber is transmitted in another and public despatch, but it is perhaps my duty to add, confidentially, that I have been told that, by some of the members of the Chamber at least, the request has been made in the belief that the readiness to court inquiry thus manifested, will lead Her Majesty's Government to conclude that such an investigation is unnecessary.

A. G.