ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA).
139
lie is ? ” To this charge generally Syud Thoweynee sent me the following vindication
in writing : ‘‘ Whatever may have taken place between the brothers Majeed and Barghash
“ is no affair of mine. I know nothing about it, neither did I interfere in any way
(( between them after I had referred the matter to the British Government. How comes
it^ then, that Majeed ruins my houses (at Zanzibar) and destroys what they contain ; so
much so that even the windows and doors are carried away ? Can matters ever be made
« straio-ht with him while he continues to act in this way ? As yet the British Govern-“
ment knows nothing of these things, but I state them to you in order that you may
“ prove their truth.”
50. In a subsequent letter from Colonel Rigby,* Syud Thoweynee is charged with not
acting “ in good faith.” Firstly, he states (in a letter to Lord Elphinstone), “ that he had
“ sent orders to Hamed bin Salem to prevent hostilities, and to bring the army back, and
« that he had charged him to refrain from all communication with Syud Majeed ;
whereas Syud Majeed sent for my perusal a letter _ written to him by Syud
“ Thoweynee, just after his return with his expedition to Muscat, informing
him that he was about to send Hamed bin Salem to Zanzibar in his ship ‘ Caroline to
“ arrange all differences between them. This, too, was just after he had agreed to refer
« those differences to the arbitration of his Lordship the Viceroy and Governor General of
“ India.”
51. As the foregoing charge called forth a severe censure on Syud Thoweynee from
the Government of India,j" it is but fair that his explanation should be recorded. It is to
the following effect : After receiving the communication from Government, through
Colonel Russell, which induced him to abandon the expedition, and to submit his case to
the arbitration of the Governor General, he understood that an officer would be sent to
Zanzibar to institute the necessary inquiries ; and as he deemed it desirable to have an
ao-ent on the spot to represent him, he decided to send Hamed bin Salem in that capacity.
He states further, that his intention in this respect was communicated to Colonel Russell.
He does not deny having written the letter alluded to above, but declares that it was one
of friendship merely, and that any overtures which might have been made by Hamed bin
Salem, in consequence of that letter, were by no means designed to set aside the final
arbitration of the Governor General. His intentions were, by previously establishing a
more friendly understanding with Syud Majeed, to render the work of arbitration easier,
and the result more satisfactory to both prirties.
52. In the same letter Colonel Rigby states, It has since been discovered (that
“ Syud Thoweynee) sent 40,000 dollars to Zanzibar, to be expended in exciting the
“ people to revolt against his brother.” And again, in his letter (Vo. 103, of 1859) it is
stated, “ Syud Baro-hash had been provided with a large sum of money by the ruler of
“ Muscat purposely to stir up a revolution. ’ Syud Thoweynee, in explanation, says
that a month before sailing he had sent 1,000 doubloons to Zanzibar foi the payment of
his troops, and for the general purposes of the expedition after it should arrive there.
The remittance had been sent to Barghash, but he denies altogether that it was tor the
objects above attributed to him.
53; Further, in Colonel Rigby’s Letter, No. 94 of 1859, Syud Thoweynee is accused
of havino* “ seized and confiscated a large new Cochin-built ship belonging to Abdallah
“ bin S^lem, the principal Chief of El-Harth tribe, and one of those still in confinement.”
This act of Syud Thoweynee is attributed to a report which had reached him that the
El-Harth had appropriated among themselves the money he had sent there for the
M purpose of exciting a revolution.” In confutation of this, Syud Thoweynee has produced
two letters from the owner of the said ship (translations of which will be found in
Appendix F.), from which it appears that the owner, fearing that his vessel might be
confiscated by Syud Majeed, had, of his own accord, made it over to Syud Thoweynee,
beo-ging that he would undertake to look after his interest therein.
54. In reply to the many charges brought against his agent, Hamed bin Salem, as
beino- « a very intrio-uing and unscrupulous person,” as active in fomenting rebellion,
and as havino- «bribed with three thousand dollars a confidential albamair jemadar, in the
« household “of his Highness (Syud Majeed), to assassinate his Highness.” $ Syud
Thoweynee adduces three notes written by Syud Majeed to Hamed bin Salem, then on
the point of returning to Muscat, wherein the latter is addressed in the most friendly
terms, and his pardon asked for any seeming harshness which he may have shown towards
him. Translations of these notes will bo found in Appendix (G).
55. Syud Thoweynee, indeed, most emphatically denies having taken any part
whatever in exciting the disturbances which arose at Zanzibar several months after the
return of his expedition to Muscat, and he complains bitterly of the numerous misrepresentations
which have been sent in against him to Government by Her Majesty s consul
at Zanzibar, whilst the British agency at Muscat was left in the hands of an illiterate Jew
who could neither read nor write. Further, he does not hesitate to express his persuasion
that the rising at Zanzibar was mainly owing to the persistency of the British representative
in a course of uncalled-for harshness towards Syud Barghash and the chiefs of the
El-Harth tribe. In confirmation of which, he handed me a letter addressed to him a few
months a^-o by Suleiman bin Hamed, the vizier of his Highness Syud Majeed. Without
0 116 “ s2 venturing
Appendix, No. 8.
* No. 46, of 1859.
t Letter, No. 4590.
Foreign Department.
+ Rigby letter. No.
94, of 1859.
