ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA).
125
Appendix, No. 8.
PAPERS RELATING TO BRITISH ARBITRATION BETWEEN
MUSCAT AND ZANZIBAR.
(No. 67 of 1860.—Secret Department.)
From H. L» Anderson, Esq., Secretary to Government, Bombay, to Brigadier W. M.
Coyhlan, Political Resident at Aden-, dated 1st March 1860.
Sir,
It being of the utmost consequence to our maritime interests that an impartial officer
should be appointed to inquire into, and report on, the merits of a dispute existing
between his Highness Syud Thoweynee, the ruler of Muscat, and his Highness Syud
Majeed, the ruler of Zanzibar, I am directed to intimate to you that the Right Honourable
the Governor in Council has been pleased to entrust to you this important duty.
2. With this view, I am desired to forward to you the accompanying copies of proceedings,
which will place you in possession of the grounds of dispute between the parties;
the political occurrences which have arisen out of them; and the measures adopted
by this Government for effecting an adjustment of the matters at issue.
3. You will perceive from these proceedings that both the rulers have agreed to accept
an arbitration by the Governor General between them, and that the formal consent of the
ruler of Muscat has been obtained to abide by the decision of that authority.
4. To facilitate your inquiries, the Right Honourable the Governor in Council considers
it desirable that Mr. Rassam should be deputed to Muscat to act as British Agent
at that place. In announcing this appointment, I am desired to intimate that it is only
temporary, and that the question of remuneration to that officer will be settled hereafter.
In the meantime Mr. Rassam will be permitted to draw, in addition to his salary of
rupees (300) three hundred per mensem as your assistant, rupees (150) one hundred
and fifty per mensem as British agent, and a further sum of rupees (50) fifty per mensem
for a writer and boat hire.
5. With Colonel Rigby at Zanzibar and Mr. Rassam at Muscat, and the aid of telegraphic
communication with the latter officer, the Right Honourable the Governor in
Council doubts not that you will be able to complete the duty entrusted to you in a short
time.
I have, &c.
(signed) H. L. Anderson,
Secretary to Government.
(No. 46 of 1860.—Secret Department.)
(No. 180 of 1860.)
From Brigadier W. M. Coghlan, Political Resident and Commandant, Aden, to H. L.
Anderson, Esq., Secretary to Government, Bombay, dated 3rd April 1860.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter (No. 67 of 1860, in the
Secret Department), apprising me that the Right Honourable the Governor in Council
had been pleased to appoint me to the duty of examining into, and reporting on, the merits
of a dispute existing between Syud Thoweynee, of Muscat, and Syud Majeed, of Zanzibar.
2. A careful perusal of the correspondence which accompanied the letter under reply
has suggested a difficulty to my mind, in connection with the investigation thus entrusted
to me, which I deemed it important to submit without delay for authoritative solution.
3. I cannot better describe the nature of this difficulty than by quoting several passages
from the correspondence referred to.
4. In the opening letter from the British Agent at Zanzibar, dated 17th February
(No. 19 of 1859), he evidently regards Syud Majeed as the de jure as well as the de facto
sovereign of that island and its African dependencies. Speaking of the causes which led
Syud Thoweynee to undertake hostilities against the territories of Zanzibar, he asserts the
claim of Syud Majeed to the absolute sovereignty of those possessions in these words:—
After he (Majeed) has ruled them with undisputed right since his father’s death.” In
the Resolution of the Honourable Board on this letter, dated 22nd April 1859, the basis
for an arrangement is suggested : “ If the ruler of Muscat could be induced to abandon
his pretentions on receiving an annual subsidy from his brother.”
0.116. Q 3 5. Further:
Appendix, No. 8.
