THE FRENCH NOTE TO ENGLAND.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1698, 14 June 1884, Page 2

THE FRENCH NOTE TO ENGLAND.

Touoniuo'upon the matter of convicts deported by the French Government, the special correspondent of the London Standard in Paris communicates the following' interesting" item, the gist of which we learned by cable some time ap:o : — The French Foreign Office has sent a Note to England with reference to the Reeidivistes, or Habitual Criminals Bill, now before the Semite. That Bill empowers the Government to transport dangerous offenders who, having been convicted and served their time, have relapsed into crime, to New Caledonia and other French Colonies. In consequence of the excitement caused by tliis Bill in Australia negotiations have been going on between the French and English Governments over sinco last August. In January last Lord Lyons had an important conversation with M. Jules Ferry, in which the former expressod the hope that his Excellency would, empower him. to inform, the British Government that no Recidivistes would be sent to New Caledonia. M. Jules Ferry, while expressing with his usual courtesy his desire to meet the views of her Majesty's Government, declined to give any such assurance. He observed further that the absolute right of France to send convicts to New Caledonia or any other Colony was not a matter as fco which a discussion ebuld be. raised. He added that a man was surely entitled to be master in his own house. Lord Lyons replied that he would not enter upon that line of argument, but remarked that, though a man was undoubtedly the master in his own house, his next-door neighbour was entitled to ask him not to make that house a source of danger or a nuisance. This conversation, Avhich took place on the 9th of January, had been preceded by a verbal communication from England to France. The French Noto handed to Lord Granville by M. Waddington before his departure from London replies' to the verbal Note, and refers to the conversation summarised above. It embodies the substance of M. Ferry's reply to Lord Lyons, and lays down that the transport of criminals to New Caledonia or any other French Colony is a matter of internal policy (tine affaire di'ordre pumncnt interkmrj with which no foreign Power has any concern, and to which international law. cannot apply in any way. The French Press fully endorses the view taken by M. Ferry, and the Liberte ia within the truth in stating that the country

will unanimously ratify the language, at once firm- and courteous, of M. Ferry. The Libertc, which, is habitually guarded, goes even further than this, and describes the action of the Australian Colonists as an attempt on their part to establish the Monroe doctrine in the Pacific, and exclude France from New Caledonia and the "New Hebrides.