4
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
*****
2
4
88
56
40
12
5
conferred, in rare instances, on colonists, without rendering it inconveniently oumerous, Local Orders might be established, which would be, though in a less degree, objects of local ambition, and which, being dispersed by the Crown, would add, not inconsiderably, to the influence of the local Executive, and tend to connect the Colonies with the mother- country. Such an effect has undoubtedly been produced by the Order of St. Michael and St. George, in Malta and the fonian Islands. I transmit for your information the rules of that Order, and its actual state; and I wish you to consider, and report to me privately, your opinion of the probable effect of the institution of an Order on similar principles for the whole of the West India Colonies, possibly including Mauritius. I send copies of this letter to Sir Charles Grey, Sir Charles Fitzroy, Sir Henry Macleod, and Governor Light; and I have to request that your Lordship will put yourself in communication with these officers respectively, stating to them your own opinion, and inviting the expression of theirs. You will then have the goodness to forward to me the whole correspondence, in order that I may have an opportunity of comparing your several views, should there be any difference of opinion among you. You will take into consideration in the first place the general principle, and acquaint me with your general views. Should you agree in thinking such a scheme practicable and desirable, you will, without awaiting my answer to your first communication, proceed to discuss the details, in reference to the fitting qualifi- cations, the numbers, and the general distribution among the several Colonies. I must, however, request that your communications with the respective Governors may be kept strictly secret, until Her Majesty's Government shall have had the opportunity of considering any propositions which you may ultimately agree on making to them.
I have, &c. (Signed) STANLEY.
[Similar letters, mutatis mutandis, to Sir Charles Metcalfe, for the North American Colonies, with copics to Lord Falkland, Sir W. Colebrooke, Sir J. Harvey, and Sir H. Huntley, and to Sir G. Gipps, for the Australian Colonies, with copies to the Governor of West Australia, South Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand.]
Present Regulation.
Present Actual.
Proposed.
FIRST CLASS.
42
34
42
Army
Navy
18
14
18
East India Company
3
4
4
Civil:-
British
18
East India Company
Colonial
Total First Class
:::
:::
ུས:|
20
83
79
90
:
SECOND CLASS.
Army..
Navy
East India Company
Civil:-
British.
East India Company Colonial
:::
:::
Total Second Class.
:::
:::
56
83
40
33
12
14
ཐཱས རྒྱལས།
:::
20
12
24
108
130
164
TITT
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE,
Reference :-
C.O.885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
(Private.) My Lord,
THIRD CLASS.
Army ..
Navy
250
277
250
100
118
100
East India Company Army and Navy
50
114
60
Civil:-
30
British..
East India Company
36
70
Colonial
Total Third Class ..
400
500
516
Total of all Ranks..
591
718
800
• One however (Sir H. Douglas) may be considered Colonial.
(Private.) My Lord,
No. 2.
Lord Stanley to the Earl of Elgin.
Downing Street, March 15, 1844. HER Majesty's Government have considered, as a matter of some importance, the best means of enabling Her Majesty to signify, by some mark of her Royal favour, her approval of services rendered by civilians, either in this country or in the Colonies, for which there are at present no appropriate and peculiar marks of distinction. It has been in our contemplation to submit to Her Majesty a proposal for some extension of the Order of the Bath, which is now almost exclusively military, and admits only into the first class a very limited number of civilians. This project has not been abandoned; but it will be obvious to your Lordship that it would be impossible to make such an addition to the numbers of the Order as to render its attainment an object of general ambition in the widely-extended Colonial possessions of the Crown, without at the same time materially diminishing its value in public estimation. There are, besides, many services which the Sovereign might desire to note with approbation, but which are of so purely Colonial a character, and bearing so exclusively on local affairs, as hardly to be fit subjects for the distinction of an Imperial Order; and it is to this class of services that I am desirous of. drawing your Lordship's attention.
should doubt the applicability, except in very rare instances, of hereditary distinc- tions to the case of the Colonies. The descendants of the original possessor could seldom remain in the Colony; and if they did, there would be no security for their continuing to possess the stake in the Colony, which would be suitable to the maintenance of an hereditary rank. But I am inclined to think that, subsidiary to and connected with the proposition of such a limited extension of the Order of the Bath as might enable it to be
No. 3.
The Earl of Elgin to Lord Stanley.
King's House, Jamaica, July 2, 1844. I AM unwilling to encumber the despatch in which I forward letters received from the Governors of the West Indian Colonies, in reference to the institution of an Order of Knighthood for Colonial services, by remarks upon topics which are not strictly included in the terms of your Lordship's communication on the subject. The following observations may not, however, appear wholly irrelevant, and I think it my duty to submit them, although I am conscious that the knowledge I possess of the Colonies is not sufficiently extensive to enable me to discuss this interesting question in all its bearings.
2. As there seems to be reason to apprehend that the adaptation of a Local Order, framed on the model of that of St. Michael and St. George, to the British West Indian Colonies will not be accomplished without difficulty, it occurs to me to suggest, for your Lordship's consideration, whether the objects contemplated by Her Majesty's Government might not be more surely and effectually attained by the institution of an Order for the whole Colonial Empire, analagous to that of the Bath, and subsidiary thereto, means being at the same time taken to add dignity and importance to such situations of honour and trust as now exist, or might hereafter be created within the several Governments.
3. Without insisting for the moment on the prevalence of absenteeism, and those peculiarities in the social state of the West Indian Colonies referred to by Governor Light and Sir Henry Macleod, I beg to mention some further points in which their condition appears to differ from that of the Ionian Islands. The intercourse which takes place between them is not considerable. Their Governments are entirely distinct and separate. Their Constitutions are formed upon diverse models, and their creole inhabitants descended from various stocks. Apart from certain recollections of the past which it would be questionable policy to perpetuate, and the interests and sympathies which they share as producers, the only bond which unites them is their common dependance on the British
Crown.
Reunions of a West Indian Order of Knighthood, were it established, would, I appre- hend, of necessity, be held in London, for in that place of general resort alone would members representing the different Colonies be likely to meet.
C
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