CO885-(11-13) — Page 45

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

CO. 885

11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

2

4. The form of Ordinance which we should venture to recommend as proper under the circumstances would be one which should secure to the Bishop of Natal such property as he is now in actual possession of and which should place in some neutral person as trustee the property which he is not in actual possession of, securing to those who are in actual possession of it the continued beneficial use of it. We express no opinion whatever upon the present position of the Bishop of Natal, but it would be manifestly inequitable by clothing him with the legal estate in property now enjoyed by persons whose right to their position in the Church is at least as good as his own to empower him to take away from these persons their present enjoyment of such property.

The Right Hon. the Earl Kimberley,

&c.

&c.

&c.

We have, &c.

(Signed)

J. D. COLERIDGE. G. JESSEL.

3378.

SIR,

No. 749.

(VIRGIN ISLANDS.)

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Foreign Office, March 30, 1872. WITH reference to your letter of the 16th instant relative to the case of the British subjects, natives of the Virgin Islands, who have been arrested and imprisoned by the Spanish authorities at Crab Island and Porto Rico, I am directed by Earl Granville to tranemit to you, to be laid before the Earl of Kimberley, the accompanying copy of an instruction which, after communication with the Law Advisers of the Crown, Lord Granville has addressed to Her Majesty's Minister at Madrid in regard to this matter.

The Under Secretary of State,

&c.

&c.

&o. Colonial Office.

SIR,

(No. 36.)

I am, &c.

(Signed)

E. HAMMOND.

EARL GRANVILLE to MR. A. H. LAYARD.

Foreign Office, March 30, 1872.

I TRANSMIT to you a copy of a letter and its enclosures from the Colonial Office, reporting the circumstances attending the arrest and imprisonment by the Spanish authorities at Crab Island and Porto Rico of a number of British subjects, natives of the Virgin islands, on a charge of murder, of which they were innocent.

I have consulted the Law Officers of the Crown upon this matter, and I am advised that it is one which calls for decided action on the part of Her Majesty's Government. The Despatch of the Spanish Governor Fout, of March 3, 1871, shows that Her Majesty's subjects were pursuing the trade of charcoal burners, not merely with the knowledge and by the permission of the Spanish Governor, but at his direct and special invitation.

It is an admitted fact that Her Majesty's subjects were absolutely innocent of the crime or any complicity with the crime laid to their charge.

It is stated on evidence, which seems to Her Majesty's Government as far as they can judge to be reasonable and credible, that the real murderer was allowed to escape from the scene of the murder by the grossest neglect, and that these innocent persons were treated with great harshness and unnecessary cruelty, and that their property was plundered and destroyed by the Spanish soldiers, with at least the passive acquiescence of the Spanish authorities. The Governor who had invited them to Culebra, and then arrested and ill-treated them with no reasonable ground for his conduct, refusing, as Her Majesty's Government understand, even to hear their complaints when released, or to assist thom in any way to recover their plundered property.

Under these circumstances I have to instruct you to lay the facts of the case before the Spanish Government, and you will state Her Majesty's Government cannot doubt that they will acknowledge the justice of the claim of these men to redress and compensation for the unprovoked and unjustifiable injuries which they have sustained.

I am, &c. (Signed) GRANVILLE.

The Right Hon. A. H. Layard.

0 16278.-909. 25.-5/86,