By ANAND MOHEEPUTH
The decision of the Secretary of state for the Colonies, Lord Elgin, to launch a Royal Commission to inquire into the financial situation, in particular, of the sugar industry in Mauritius provoked a chasm in the Mauritian political landscape.
It witnessed a political confrontation between the status-quoist sugar plantations’ owners, referred to as the oligarchs, and a new breed of more liberal-minded politicians, known as Democrats, gathered under the umbrella of the Action Libérale.
The ‘provocative’ decision of Lord Elgin, as per his correspondence dated 9 January, 1908, followed several requests previously made by the Chamber of Agriculture for a loan of £600,000 from the Imperial government to assist the sugar industry to tide over its financial debts and renew factories’ machinery.
Lord Elgin’s rejection of the loan request was motivated by the fact that the Council of Government in Mauritius had not voted a resolution to that effect.
Furthermore, the Secretary of State in a despatch complained about not being able to obtain officially from the Colonial Government additional information when queried. Lord Elgin said he saw “no justifications” in approving the loan as the government had been “guilty of suppression and suggesting false facts” .
The reaction of the president of the Chamber of Agriculture who was also the elected member for Moka and recognized as leader of the white community, Sir Henry Leclézio, was a straight ‘no’ to an investigation. “It is absolutely useless”, said Sir Henry, because, “this will have the effect of creating disorder in the island….”. In that regard, the Council of Government where oligarch influence was dominant fully backed Leclézio.
But faced with the intransigence of the Secretary of state, the leader of the white community rowed back. The motion of Dr Eugène Laurent calling for the appointment of a Royal Commission was brought anew on the table on 2 February 1909. Seconded by Gaston Gébert, it passed through amid loud applause from the public gallery at Government House, which reverberated with shouts of “Vive Laurent”.
In the Action Libérale’s camp, the moment was one of rejoicing. The visit of a Royal Commission was now considered imminent. It was hoped that with the Commission, many of the apparent abuses and wrong doings perpetrated in the private sector would come to light and be used as fodder to strengthen the party’s political outreach in view of the forthcoming 1911 general election.
The Action Libérale founded in 1907 after the void left by the Democrats formation of Gustave de Coriolis and Onésipho Beaugeard in the late 1880s had embarked earlier in 1908 on a denunciation campaign of the oligarchy’s “mismanagement” of the Colony. A Royal Commission was the key component on its agenda.
Not short of motivation, nor of imagination, the party led by Eugène Laurent devised a distinct contour in mobilising public opinion – that of touring the districts by bullock cart to explain to the village communities the political state of the island.
Two flamboyant members of the Action Libérale, René Mérandon and Willie Dawson were assigned to the task of enlightening the population.
It was 12.30 hrs on Monday 1 June 1908. Seen off at the Place d’Armes by their leaders and a handful of cheering crowd, while some individuals watching the spectacle from the ‘Glaneur’ restaurant hurled foul comments, Mérandon and Dowson began the 7-day trip that would end at Souillac where a “memorable” public meeting was scheduled for 8 June.
“La Vérité en Marche” was the slogan plastered on a board displayed on the ‘roulotte’ baptized ‘Le Char de la Vérité’. On a second cart were loaded foodstuffs and two sleeping mattresses. An armed assistant was keeping the rear.
On the move, a trumpet blown at every village’ entrance announced the arrival of the ‘Char de la vérité’. It was the beginning of the era of political folklores of which different types and shades exist today. Excited residents discovered their villages wearing a festive look. Applause rent the air, more so, as the white establishment running the sugar industry came in under sharp criticism, in the same form and texture that lasted till recently at political rallies.
Indeed, at the meeting of 8 June at Souillac, a Royal Commission became a pet theme developed by the orators.
After Robert Duchenne had opened the meeting, Dawson addressed the crowd massively made up of Eugène Laurent’s diehards coming from Port Louis. Trains from Port Louis running to packed capacity converged on Souillac. Never mind, if the one way train ticket for a passenger cost 50 cents!
Laurent’s supporters could not let “nou le roi” down. As for example, rumours galloping from Curepipe to Port Louis in a night about Laurent’s assassination by an oligarch supporter in 1911 unleashed an orgy of violence in Port Louis. The supporters went berserk ransacking, burning and looting. Although they were assured that Laurent was safe and sound, they insisted upon seeing him in person. Tension subsided when Laurent showed himself up in Port Louis. Raising his hands to the sky at a gathering, he began his address by exclaiming “Paix, mon peuple”.
But at the Souillac meeting earlier, Dawson was all praise for the good and exemplary conduct of the crowd.
“Personne na pas finne boire”, he exclaimed, “personne na pas finne sou. Koumsa meme bizin faire, parcequi blancs dire noirs nek conne boire. Azordi, personne pas capave dire sa. Seki dire sa coze menti……”
The crowd shouted back in approval, ”Bien cozé sa…..”
Dawson criticised the government for wasting public money, while those at the lowest level were being heavily taxed. “Dans gouvernment zotte gaspille larzent bonavini. Quand malhére gagne 3 sous, gouvernment prend 1 sous lor la pour taxe…”
“Le Roi fine tandé ki ena couillonade dans ca peyi la… Li pou envoye so dimoune pou conné au zist ki éna ki penan’, harped Mérandon who said, “sa meme grand blancs en colère….zot na pas oulé lenquète…”
Amid the frenzy that reigned, Mérandon lashed out at the colonial government for dilapidating public funds, poor living conditions of workers and the meagre salaries paid to Government employees.
Dr Laurent could not digest the fact that the Governor of Mauritius was drawing a yearly salary of Rs 75,000 which, he said, called for a reduction. He attacked the Board of Health for its inefficiency and the Port Authority for investing in a new lighthouse at the cost of Rs 100,000, as being a waste of time and money.
Mauritius was ripe for “self-rule”, argued Dr Octave Guibert. Edouard Nairac urged the Indian population to actively participate in local politics rather than keeping a low profile.
The meeting ended with a resolution to be transmitted to the Secretary of state requesting the setting up of a Royal Commission to probe in the affairs of the colony.
The Royal Commissioners headed by Sir Frank Swettenham did, indeed, arrive on 18 June 1909. They were greeted by Laurent’s supporters at the Chien de Plomb.
The Commission, according to the Under-Secretary of state for the Colonies, in a statement to the House of Commons on 20 May 1909, was appointed to “inquire into the administrative and financial condition of the government of the colony”. The objective was to suggest measures how to get the faltering economy and prosperity of the colony back on track.
In the end, it seems the much-trumpeted Royal Commission did not give extra mileage to the political ambition of the anti-oligarch faction.
But the acid test for the Action Libérale adopting all through a democratic posture was the 1911 general election when the party was trounced, the only two survivors being Eugène Laurent and Edouard Nairac, elected in their Port Louis stronghold. The 26-year old Barrister and budding politician, René Mérandon, swallowed defeat in the hands of Louis Souchon at Rivière du Rempart.
“Le Char de la Vérité” suffered total loss. It collided with a brutal political reality, the 1885 Constitution that stood as roadblock on the path to liberal democracy for almost six decades.