on against those who
do not have even enough generosity to recognize the benefits of their
mother-country.... As for us, our mission is to call all parties of
our population to a united intelligence...." On October 22, 1844, he
exclaimed, regarding racial distinctions: "Education levels
everything. An erudite man in any class is equal to any other man
having the same degree of education; he is a demi-god and is superior
to kings, when the latter are immersed in the darkness of ignorance."

Ollier continued the attacks upon the government because of its
discrimination against its citizens of color and yet he remained a
lover of his country. Not only did he agitate through the columns of
paper, but also through other available channels. In 1843, he drafted
a petition to which many signatures were attached and sent it to Queen
Victoria. This action has been called the death-blow to the monopoly
of the local parliament by the white population. The petition was:

"May it please your Majesty,--On various occasions the British
Throne has been approached by individual members or collective
bodies of the Mauritius community in the exercise of that
inestimable privilege of your Majesty's faithful subjects, the
right of petition; but hitherto, never has any prayer of the
great majority of your Majesty's loyal and attached subjects in
this island been thus presented to your Majesty's attention.

"The colored classes of Mauritius, comprising a population of
about 70,000, and including at least one third of the island's
wealth and intelligence, although not deprived of any political
right by the fundamental laws of the British realm, or by any act
of Your Majesty's Parliament, actually enjoy but few privileges
of British subjects; and can scarcely be said to have a political
existence in the affairs of their native island.

"Your Majesty's petitioners will refer to the fact of no
individual of the coloured classes having a seat in the Council
of Government; notwithstanding that there are many in the island
in every respect qualified by riches, talents, education, and
moral character, to occupy a place in that assembly.

"Whilst therefore gratefully recognizing the equity and
impartiality of the British laws and institutions, in which alone
repose their best hopes for themselves and their children, your
Majesty's pet