CO882-6 — Page 263

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TIPIC.O. 882

سياسيا

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

2

pre-

the resolution. In the course of conversation Mr. Leclézio declared very frankly his views as to the scope of the loyalty of Mauritians. He said that the Mauritians ferred British rule to any other, and that they have no desire to see the rule of any other European power substituted for it. But he declared at the same time that, in the event of an invasion or act of aggression by France, no Mauritian could be expected to take any active part in opposing it. He declared at the same time that, while no Mauritian could be expected to fire on a French force the Mauritians would not actively resist English troops engaged in the defence of the Colony, nor molest them, but would remain passive. He told me that he had long ago expressed this view to Major-General Hall, and that on this ground he had always admitted the impossibility of the establishment of a local force, as proposed some years ago by Sir John Pope Hennessy. Mr. Leclézio's view of the probable action of the Mauritians in case of French aggression was exactly in accordance with the opinion expressed by the Mauritian members of a Committee appointed by Sir John Pope Hennessy in 1885, to consider the defence of the Colony. I cannot find the Minutes of the Committee, which were kept as confidential, and I suppose they have been destroyed, but all that was essential was reported to the War Office by the military authorities at the time, and a copy was given to me when I left the Colony. I communicated all the facts to the Colonial Office at the time. Mr. Leclézio assured, me that he believed his views on the subject of the neutrality of the people in case of French invasion or aggression to be shared by nine-tenths of the "intelligent part of the community."

7. In the course of further conversation, I told Mr. Leclézio that, a few days before, Dr. Edwards, a member of the Executive Council, had called to speak to me confidentially on the subject of the newspaper "Le Cernéen," which has systematically attacked him for the last two years on the ground of his English sympathies. Dr. Edwards assured me that "Le Černéen " exercises a very great influence, owing to an impression which exists generally that Sir Hubert Jerningham persuaded you that it is the only newspaper in the Colony which represents the real interests of the people of Mauritius, and that you are guided entirely by the opinions and wishes it publishes. I assured Dr. Edwards that there is no foundation whatever for such an impression; that I could not believe that Sir Hubert Jerningham had ever made any such repre- sentation to you, and that I am confident that you are far from being under the influ- ence of the "Cernéen" or those it claims to represent.

8. Mr. Leclézio declared, not only that he had been under the same impression as Dr. Edwards, and that it is an impression generally shared, but that he had Sir Hubert Jerningham's assurance that the general belief is correct. I told him he must have misunderstood Sir Hubert; that it was impossible that Sir Hubert Jerningham could have urged you to accept as sole representative of the real interests of Mauritius the paper "Le Cernéen."

9. In as guarded a manner as possible, and carefully abstaining from any direct or indirect reference to the terms of Sir Hubert Jerningham's despatches, I thought it my duty to tell him that if he and his friends were under the impression that Sir Hubert had satisfied you that the "Cernéen" and its supporters are loyally affected to British rule they were under an entire misapprehension.

10. I was glad to have an opportunity to remove the absurd impression which has apparently been entertained about the influence of the "Cernéen," because, while it has been evident to me that this paper has exercised a kind of general terrorism, I was totally unable to account for the influence it seemed to exercise over the repre- sentatives of interests diametrically opposed to those of the supporters of the "Cernéen."

Mr. DE CORIOLIS.

11. A prominent member of the descendants of old French Colonists is Mr. de Coriolis, who holds the office of Surveyor-General in the Colony. He has, in a long communication to the "Cernéen," professed an unbounded loyalty to England, and understand that he has addressed a communication in the same sense to the "Natal Mercury." I believe that personally he sincerely entertains the sentiment he pro- fesses; but I am bound to tell you that a few days after Mr. Leclézio had given notice of the resolution passed in the Council of Government, declaring the loyalty and attachment of Mauritius to the Queen and Her Majesty's Empire, Mr. de Coriolis called on me. He said that he felt it his duty to tell me that if I believed in the sincerity of such professions of loyalty, so far as concerns the class of French des-

• 35032: not printed.

3

cendants to which he himself belongs by birth, I was entirely misled. He declared that the traditions in all the old French families are strongly anti-British, He declared that the English sympathies of a few of these families, the de Chazals, Rouillards and others thoroughly loyal to British rule, have completely estranged them from the class to which they belong by birth. And as a final proof of the truth of his assertions, he declared that his own professed sympathy with England had procured him only ridi- cule and contempt from his associates. He added that even one of his own sons had remonstrated with him on his defection from the French sympathies of his class.

The late Sir CÉLICOURT ANTELME, K.C.M.G.

12. Sir Célicourt Antelme represented a party in the Colony of French descent, and of strong French sympathies, but distinct from the descendants of those old French settlers who pride themselves on the high birth of their ancestors. I have always been convinced of the loyalty to British rule of Sir Célicourt and his friends. His sentiments seemed to me almost identical with those expressed by Sir Wilfrid Laurier in regard to Canada. The essential difference between Sir Célicourt and the old French party, represented by the "Cernéen," was, in my opinion, that Sir Célicourt, while devoted to, and it may be regretting, the past, accepted the present, and was ready to associate himself with the Imperial interests of Great Britain as heartily as the Canadians; on the other hand, the party of the "Cernéen" are absolutely opposed to everything that may tend to consolidate the interests of Mauritius with the interests of the empire.

13. I informed you, by my confidential despatch of the 21st March last, that an appeal had been made to Sir Célicourt by Mr. Harel, a Mauritian resident in Paris, to place himself at the head of a movement to obtain the reintroduction of the use of the French language in the Supreme Court of Mauritius. I now annex a copy of Sir Célicourt's reply, published in the "Cernéen," of the 16th November, and I translate the concluding paragraphs as follows:--

"The French element of our population now forms only a feeble minority-five or six thousand souls-in the midst of a hundred thousand men of colour and two hundred and eighty thousand Indians, to whom the French language a matter of perfect indifference. The Créoles of French origin themselves are divided, especially the members of the Bar. To keep all these people together and induce them to make the demonstration you desire, would require, I repeat, a man of youth, eloquence and bearing."

"And I must tell you that what is now going on in France since the revolution of the 4th September, has much diminished her popularity in the Colony, and there are among us many sensible men who would hesitate to give a hand at this moment to any action which might be misinterpreted by the English people."

Mr. WILLIAM NEWTON, Q.C.

14. A few months ago I had an interview with Mr. William Newton, Q.C., on the subject of the opposition offered on the ground of national sentiment to the grant of a subsidy to the British Indian Steam Navigation Company in substitution of the subsidy hitherto paid to the Messageries Maritimes. In the course of conversation Mr. Newton told me that though his sympathies with the Franco-Mauritian element of the population are very strong he would, in the case of war, throw himself entirely on the side of the English. I believe that Mr. Newton is perfectly sincere, and that he shares at heart the views of Dr. Edwards and Sir Virgile Naz, who belong to the same class of the community as himself, although it must be admitted that his speeches in the Council of Government are accepted by the anti-British organs of the local press As associating him with their sentiments.

Sir VIRGILE NAZ, K.C.M.G., and Dr. EDWARDS.

15. The opinions of Sir Virgile Naz and Dr. Edwards are practically identical. They represent the most intelligent class of the population of mixed descent. They represent, in my opinion, the class in which Sir William Stevenson believed Her Majesty's Government might eventually find a genuine sentiment of loyalty to British rule, in the sense in which the word is understood in other parts of the empire, a loyalty which might be trusted to defend British rule against French invasion-the only invasion which it is at all likely they could be called on to repel.

• This Despatch cannot be traced in Colonial Office.

10162