The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1920-02-04
EXPRESS Love
FOR TRIC0L0R
French Inhabitants of Nautilus
Ask That island Be Re-
turned to France
IS NOW UNDER BRITISH RULE
Possibility That Their Request Will
Be Granted as a Matter Of SENT.
ment-spot Made Famous by
"PauI and Virginia."

Neutrality-suspicious. from the peace
conference has told nothing of the
na%tionalistic movement in the little
half-forgotten island in the Indian
ocean known as Nautilus. But the
movement there is something new in
the realm Of international complica-
lions. The inhabitants have asked to
be restored by the British empire to
France and the French are anxious
to have the island back because It Is
the scene Of paul ct virginie," pub
lished in 1887, by jacques Henri Ber-
hardin de Saint-Pierre. The islanders
have a new claim in that they say they
belong to the domaine sentimental"
of France.
Mauritius since 1910 has been a Brit
ish colony. Before that for a century
1t had been French and known as lie
de France. The name it now bears
is in honor of the Dutch Maurice, CIV
en- to 1t by his faithful subjects in the
seventeenth century. 1t was, however,
discovered by the Portuguese. It has
thus passed through the cycle of COL
onization and exploitation. And now
a committee Of delegates in Paris has
addressed a double memorial to Gle
menceau and Lloyd George saying that
they wish to return to the French fam.
lily. RI g.
Tribute to British Rule.
And here again Is a new note. For
the Mauritians have not drawn up a
bill of complaints against England nor
organized a Mauritian Sim Fein. On
the contrary, they say that they have
only gratitude and respect for Great
Britain for her generous treatment Of
them and their island.
Objections to this transfer there
would certainly be. The government
OF a century is not easily switched.
And under the English, who under
stand better than any other nation how
to govern colonies (since the lesson
of 1776), the island has prospered
steadily. The most striking feature of
the development has been the great
influx of East Indians where there
were formerly only French settlers
and their black slaves. Now the white
inhabitants, descendants mostly of the
French colonists, number between TO-.
600 and $4,000, while the Indians are
four times their number and have got
into control of most of the business Of
the capital, Port-Louis. But the old
French families, who have gone on
with their W language, laws and GUS
toms, thanks to the kindly British rule,
still consider the island as theirs, and
not the Hindus'.
All Very Much In Earnest,
At once. after the signing Of the
armistice, a demonstration was held
before the French consulate in the
capital, where the chief speakers de-
manded that the island be turned back
to France, and i1 January Of last year
a banquet was held in the city hall in
honor Of France, where the chief oh.
ject Of interest "a q statue of the
immortal lovers, Paul and Virginia, the
work Of the Mauritian sculptor, Pros
per d'Epinay. draped in the tricolor
of France. The guests at the banquet
sang the "Marseillaise," which was
taken up by the crowds outside. A.
ter the banquet a delegation was
named to take up the matter Of the
transfer with the British and French
governments, and this commission,
headed by DR.. Joseph Riviere, has
been active in propaganda at home and
in France.
The French writer, Alberto Cahuet,
in ILLUSTRATION puts the case for the
French Mauritians as follows:
'The elite Of the population of the
Island Of Mauritius is made up of thu
descendants of the former French col
onlsts, having piously preserved the
integrity Of their souls and their ma,
tional culture and who, In spite Of all
the immigration, have remained thu
exclusive possessors Of the soil and
the agricultural riches. In vain has
been the influx Of indigenous races
negroes. Hindus, Mongols and Arab!
which has swelled the figure Of tn,
general population. The little print
tive kernel, 10000 to 10000 inhabi
tants in 375.OO0, has kept its prepon
derance."