[Following the Equator Part 7 by Mark Twain]@TWC D-Link bookFollowing the Equator Part 7 CHAPTER LXII 19/28
A big war will temporarily shut up the Suez Canal some day and the English ships will have to go to India around the Cape of Good Hope again; then England will have to have Bourbon and will take it. "Mauritius was a crown colony until 20 years ago, with a governor appointed by the Crown and assisted by a Council appointed by himself; but Pope Hennessey came out as Governor then, and he worked hard to get a part of the council made elective, and succeeded.
So now the whole council is French, and in all ordinary matters of legislation they vote together and in the French interest, not the English.
The English population is very slender; it has not votes enough to elect a legislator.
Half a dozen rich French families elect the legislature.
Pope Hennessey was an Irishman, a Catholic, a Home Ruler, M.P., a hater of England and the English, a very troublesome person and a serious incumbrance at Westminster; so it was decided to send him out to govern unhealthy countries, in hope that something would happen to him.
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