{"id":31672,"date":"2021-06-15T07:29:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T03:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=31672"},"modified":"2021-06-15T07:29:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T03:29:55","slug":"remy-ollier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/remy-ollier\/","title":{"rendered":"Remy Ollier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mauritius Times – 60 Years Ago<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Doojendranath Napal<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

One year more has rolled on since we wrote on Remy Ollier. We are in October, the month associated in our annals with the birthday of the relentless fighter for the oppressed, the champion of coloured men.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no Mauritian problem on which Remy Ollier has not written with the fiery touch common to his nature. It is in reading and re-reading the Sentinelle<\/em> that we come to realise that Remy Ollier was not only a publicist, a patriot, one whose heart bled at the sight of his suffering brethren but above all a prophet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did he not believe in the glory which the future reserved for coloured men? He reminded his scoffers and detractors that they might laugh their fill at his efforts but that the day would come when from the ranks of those whom they despised would rise people before whom their children would have to bend their heads in shame.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us, within the compass of this article, confine ourselves to Remy Ollier\u2019s opinions on two problems \u2013 the language problem and the Franco-Mauritian\u2019s loyalty to Britain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remy Ollier wrote on the 18th<\/sup>\u00a0July 1844:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLa langue anglaise est encore pour nos enfants une langue \u00e9trang\u00e8re, car nous ne la parlons pas dans nos familles : c\u2019est cependant celle qui doit dominer un jour \u00e0 Maurice, qui est colonie anglaise et dont toutes les esp\u00e9rances se reportent vers l\u2019Angleterre. Aucun moyen ne doit donc \u00eatre n\u00e9glig\u00e9 pour accorder, chez nous,\u00a0 \u00e0 la langue anglaise l\u2019importance qu\u2019elle doit y avoir. Tout subordonner \u00e0 l\u2019anglais est, suivant nous, le seul moyen de r\u00e9soudre ce probl\u00e8me.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What a prophecy in these words!<\/span><\/p>\n

Exactly the same thoughts were expressed by the Royal Commission of 1872 and 1909 and in the Ward Report.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remy Ollier found that the press was hostile towards the English.\u00a0He wrote on the 16th<\/sup>\u00a0December 1844:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLes diff\u00e9rents organes de la coterie mauricienne d\u00e9ploient de jour en jour le caract\u00e8re anti-anglais, anti-colonial que nous leur avons connu dans le principe : c\u2019est l\u2019empire fran\u00e7ais dans le gouvernement anglais qu\u2019ils veulent perp\u00e9tuer \u00e0 jamais. De\u00a0l\u2019inconfiance que nous t\u00e9moigne notre m\u00e9tropole et qui est, suivant les esprits les plus judicieux et les plus impartiaux, le prix de la d\u00e9saffection que nous supposent pour notre nouvelle m\u00e8re-patrie ceux qui m\u00e9ditent les publications de notre Ile.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Again, and again these thoughts recur in the Sentinelle<\/em>. Remy Ollier believed that if only the Franco-Mauritian and their hirelings would ceased to attack England and consider themselves as British subject and not as \u201cpeuple conquis\u201d, Mauritius would have much to gain from British institutions implanted in the Island. He deplored the fact that the colonists criticised every English institution without considering the good effects for which they were destined. He often referred to the unjust and mean attacks levelled against Jeremie.<\/span><\/p>\n

A military parade had been held at the Champ de Mars on the 3rd<\/sup> December 1844. On the 6th<\/sup> December of the same year Le Mauricien<\/em> wrote a virulent article against the government, asking ironically if the 12th<\/sup> regiment would not have done better to exchange \u201cquelques coups de fusil avec les chasseurs ou de marcher en bon ordre sous un soleil de d\u00e9cembre depuis le Mapou jusqu\u2019aux retranchements.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Cern\u00e9en<\/em> writing on the same subject said that the government had the right to celebrate the anniversary of the conquest but it was impolitie to do so as it evoked old \u201csouvenirs\u201d and wounded the feelings of the colonists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remy Ollier wrote vehemently against both papers reminding them that it was such actions of theirs that alienated the English and made the British government suspicious of the loyalty of the colonists. We ask to ourselves, if Remy Ollier had lived, how indignant he would have been of Dr Cure and that clique which so fanatically demanded that retrocession of Mauritius to France.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the lessons taught by Remy Ollier were lost on needless ears. What is strange is that with dogged perseverance many people in our island are still impelled by the same reactionary motives which the great patriot so often condemned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Friday 4th October 1957<\/span>
\n4th Year – No 165<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 15 June 2021<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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