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APPENDIX  TO  REPORT  FROM  SELECT  COMMITTEE

Appendix,  No.  8,  the  slave  trade  in  that  quarter,  might  lose  much  of  its  efficacy  through  the  jealousy  of
foreign  Powers  ;  whereas,  by  inducing  those  Powers  to  join  with  us  in  a  general  scheme
to  that  end,  no  such  obstacles  would  arise,  and  the  benevolent  object  in  view  might  be
realised.  It  will  be  for  Her  Majesty’s  Home  Government  to  decide  whether  the  coalition
here  suggested  is  practicable,  and,  if  not,  to  direct  what  ulterior  measures  on  our  part
should  be  adopted  for  rendering  more  effectual  the  provisions  of  existing  treaties.  In  the
meantime,  you  will  have  opportunities  during  your  mission  for  eliciting  further  information ­
  on  all  particulars  of  the  slave  trade,  and  report  the  same  direct  to  the  Secretary  of
State  for  India,  as  well  as  to  this  Government,  together  with  any  recommendations  for  its
suppression,  which  from  acquired  local  experience,  you  may  deem  practicable  and  efficacious. ­

I  have,  &c.
(signed)  W.  L.  Andersoiif
.  Bombay  Castle,  29  May  1860.  Acting  Chief  Secretary.

(Persian  Department.)
Translation  of  a  Letter  from  His  Excellency  the  Honourable  Sir  George  Russell
Clerk,  K.C.B.,  Governor  of  Bombay,  to  his  Highness  Syud  Thoweynee,  Euler  of  Muscat,.
dated  31st  May  1860.
A.  C.
I  HAVE  much  pleasure  in  apprising  your  Highness,  that  arrangements  have  now  been
made  for  instituting  the  inquiries  into  the  unfortunate  differences  which  have  arisen
between  yourself  and  his  Highness  your  brother  Syud  Majeed  at  .Zanzibar,  which  are  to
precede  the  arbitration  of  the  Eight  Honourable  the  Governor  General  of  India.
Those  inquiries  have  been  entrusted  to  Brigadier  Coghlan,  our  Resident  at  Aden,  an
officer  in  whom  I  place  the  highest  confidence,  and  whom  I  have  commissioned  to  report
to  this  Government  the  result  of  his  investigations.
Your  Highness  will  perceive  in  this  appointment  a  satisfactory  proof  of  the  anxious
desire  of  the  British  Government  that  its  intervention  should  be  exercised  with  perfect
fairness  and  justice.  As  having  been  hitherto  unconnected  with  the  disputes  pending
between  your  Highness  and  his  Highness  Syud  Majeed,  Brigadier  Coghlan’s  investigations
will  be  carried  on  with  strict  impartiality  towards  both  pai  ties  ;  moreover,  his  past  experience ­
  of  the  Arab  tribes  at  Aden,  and  the  co-operation  of  the  officers  who  have  been
associated  with  him  in  this  commission,  well  versed  as  they  are  in  the  language,  laws,  and
customs  of  the  Arabs  ;  will  be  an  additional  assurance  to  your  Highness  that  every  precaution ­
  has  been  taken  to  elicit  such  informations  as  shall  enable  the  Right  Honourable'
the  Governor  General  to  decide  with  justice  on  your  respective  claims.
Brigadier  Coghlan  proceeds  immediately  to  Muscat,  on  this  duty,  and  I  commend  him
to  your  Highness  as  our  commissioner,  assured  that  you  will  not  fail  to  receive  him  with
the  honour  and  respect  due  to  his  rank  and  office.  Brigadier  Coghlan  on  his  arrival  will
install  Mr.  Hormuzd  Rassam,  an  esteemed  and  trusted  servant  of  this  Government,  as
British  agent  to  your  Highness  at  Muscat,  an  appointment,  which  I  am  persuaded,  will  be
highly  acceptable  to  you,  and  during  his  residence  there  in  that  capacity,  I  anticipate  your
cordial  co-operation  with  him  in  all  matters  connected  with  the  interests  of  the  British
Government  and  its  subjects  within  your  territories.  Brigadier  Coghlan  will  then  confer
with  your  Highness  on  the  object  of  his  mission,  and  I  would  strongly  urge  on  you  the
importance  of  placing  implicit  confidence  in  him  in  all  your  communications,  reserving  no
information  which  may  aid  the  Eight  Honourable  the  Governor  General  in  forming  such
a  decision  as  may  not  only  be  in  accordance  with  justice,  but  which  in  its  results  may  tend
to  the  re-establishment  of  peace  between  contending  parties,  and  to  the  increased  prosperity
of  all  the  subjects  of  his  Highness  the  late  Imam.
Assuring  your  Highness  that  the  British  Government  is  now,  as  it  has  ever  been,  most
solicitous  to  promote  those  objects  throughout  Oman  and  Zanzibar,  I  conclude  with  the
usual  salutations  of  respect.
For  the  rest,  &c.  &c.  &c.

(True  Copy.)
(signed)  Venayek  Wassoodew,
Oriental  Translator  to  Government.