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No. 26.

THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P., to the RIGHT HON. SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, G.C.M.G.

(Confidential.)

SIR,

Downing Street, September 29, 1886. In order to provide for the contingency, which however I do not anticipate, of your finding it necessary either for the due holding of your inquiry or for the mainte- nance of order and public confidence that the Governor of Mauritius should cease to administer the Government at any time during your presence in the island, I have advised the Queen to issue to you, in addition to your commission as Royal Commis- sioner, a further commission empowering you to assume the government. This commission would suspend, when brought into operation, the commission of the Lieut.- Governor as well as that of the Governor, and will further enable you, before leaving Mauritius, to nominate some third person to administer the government provisionally.

Although, as I prefer to hope, you may not find any urgent reason for thus interfering with the existing provisions for the administration of the government, it is desirable that you should be empowered to make the best arrangements under any circumstances, and if the Governor should desire to take leave of absence, or be incapacitated from admi- nistering the government, it would not be convenient at the present time that the administration should pass into the hands of the Lieut.-Governor, having regard to the strong antagonism between him and the Governor.

You have, however, full discretion as to the manner in which you should exercise the powers conferred by this commission, in the event of your determining to bring it into operation.

Sir Hercules Robinson,

SIR,

I have, &c. (Signed)

No. 27.

EDWARD STANHOPE.

THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P., to the RIGHT HON. SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, G.C.M.G.

(Secret.)

Downing Street, September 29, 1886.

I HAVE the honour to transmit to you a Commission passed under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, appointing you in certain events to be Governor of the Colony of Mauritius.

Sir Hercules G. R. Robinson,

I have, &c. (Signed)

EDWARD STANHOPE.

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authorise and empower you at your discretion and at any time to assume the govern→ ment of Our said Colony, and in that event We do by this Our Commission under Our Sign Manual and Signet appoint you, the said Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, to be during Our pleasure Our Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Our Colony of Mauritius and its Dependencies, with all the powers, rights, privileges, and advantages to the said office belonging or appertaining.

II. And We do hereby authorise, empower, and command you to exercise and perform all and singular the powers and directions contained in Our letters patent under the Great Seal of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the twenty-second day of March 1879, in the forty-second year of Our reign, or in any other Our letters patent adding to, amending, or substituted for the same, according to such orders and instructions as Our Governor and Commander-in- Chief for the time being hath already received from Us, or as you shall hereafter receive from Us.

III. And further We do hereby appoint that, so soon as you shall have publicly intimated your intention to assume the government, this Our present Commission shall suspend Our Commission under Our Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the ninth day of December 1882, appointing Our trusty and well-beloved Sir John Pope Hennessy, Knight Commander of Our Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, to be during Our pleasure Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Our said Colony and its Dependencies; and also Our Commission under our Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the twenty-first day of November 1885, appointing Our trusty, and well-beloved Clifford Lloyd, Esquire, to be during Our pleasure Lieutenant-Governor of Our said Colony and its Dependencies.

IV. And further, if in the interest of Our service it shall appear to you to be expedient that some person other than the said Sir John Pope Hennessy, or the said Clifford Lloyd, should administer the goverument of Our said Colony and its Dependencies, upon your leaving Our said Colony, or otherwise ceasing to administer the government thereof, then and in that case We do hereby expressly authorise and empower you by writing under your hand and the Public Seal of the Colony to nominate some person to succeed you in the government, and We do by these presents under Our Sign Manual and Signet, appoint the persou so nominated to administer the government of Our said Colony and its Dependencies during Our pleasure, with all the powers, rights, privileges, and advantages to the same belonging or appertaining from such time as you shall cease to administer the said government.

V. And further, We do hereby declare and appoint that so long as you or any person so nominated by you shall continue in the administration of the government of Our said Colony and its Dependencies, Our said Commissions to the said John Pope Hennessy, and to the said Clifford Lloyd, shall continue suspended, unless We shall otherwise direct by Instructions under Our Sign Manual and Signet, or through one of Our Principal Secretaries of State.

VI. And we do hereby command all and singular Our Officers, Ministers, and loving subjects in Our said Colony and its Dependencies, and all others whom it may concern, to take due notice hereof, and to give their ready obedience accordingly.

Given at Our Court at Balmoral, this Twenty-fifth day of September 1886, in the Fiftieth year of Our Reign.

:

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O. 882

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

Enclosure in No. 27.

MAURITIUS.

COMMISSION passed under the RoYAL SIGN MANUAL and SIGNET, appointing the Right Honourable SIR HERCULES GEORGE ROBERT ROBINSON, P.C., "G.C.M.G., to be GOVERNOR and COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF of the COLONY of MAURITIUS and its DEPENDENCIES.-Dated September 25, 1886.

VICTORIA R.

VICTORIA, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India: To Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor Sir Hèrcules George Robert Robinson, Knight Grand Cross of Our Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Our Governor and Commander in-Chief in and over Our Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, with its Territories and Dependencies, greeting.

Whereas by a Commission under Our Sign Manual and Signet, bearing even date here- with, We have appointed you, the said Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, to be Our Commissioner for the purpose of making inquiry into the state of affairs existing in Our Colony of Mauritius, as in Our said Commission is more particularly set forth.

And whereas it may become expedient that you should temporarily assume the government of Our said Colony and its Dependencies: Now, therefore, we do hereby

SIR,

No. 28.

By Her Majesty's Command,

CROSS.

THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P., to Governor Sir J. POPE HENNESSY, K.C.M.G.

(No. 77.)

Downing Street, September 29, 1886.

I HAVE the honour to inform you that, on the 27th instant, I telegraphed to you via Durban, to the effect that Her Majesty had been advised to order an inquiry into the affairs of Mauritius, and that Sir Hercules Robinson, who had been appointed Royal Commissioner to undertake the inquiry, would proceed from the Cape, so as to arrive in Mauritius carly in November; that Mr. Clifford Lloyd had been directed to return to the Colony, and that I approve of your proposal to visit Réunion, on the condition that you return at the beginning of November.

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