[  1

MmUTES  OF

EVIDENCE-Monday,

  \Oth  July  1871.

MEMBERS  PRESENT  :

Sir  Robert  Anstruther.
Lord  Frederick  Cavendish.
Vicount  Enfield.
Mr.  Cruin-Ewin^.
Mr.  Gilj)in.

Sir  John  Hay.
Mr.  Kenn  away.
Mr.  Kinnaird.
Mr.  O’Conor.
Sir  Frederick  Williams.

CHARLES  GILPIN,  Esq.,  in  the  Chair.

The  Honourable  Crespigny  Vivian,  called  in;  and  Examined.

C/¿atrma?h]  I  believe  you  have  been  for  a
considerable  time  connected  with  the  Foreign
Office  ?—For  19  years.
fb  connected  with  that  department  ol
^  ^  oreign  Office  which  takes  cognisance  oi
atters  in  connection  with  the  slave  trade?—
cSj  I  am  senior  clerk  in  charge  of  the  slave
Hade  department.
have  seen  the  terms  of  reference  to
^  Committee  ?—1  have.
nil  4*1  state  of  affairs  at  Zanzibar  and
+1.  m  ^  Coast  of  Africa,  with  respect  to  the
a  C  m  slaves  at  the  present  time  as  far  as  you
know  ?—SWery  in  the  first  place  is  legal  in
Zanzibar.  The  sovereign  of  Zanzibar  is  an  Arab,
and  his  subjects  are  Arabs,  and  as  such  they
consider  there  is  no  harm  in  slavery  at  all.  By
however,  the  export  of  slaves
n  Zanzibar  to  foreign  countries,  and  also  from
anzibar  to  the  dominions  of  the  Imaum  of  Muscat
tn  t  4^^'  prohibited,  but  slaves  are  still  allowed
J)lbe  tramg)ort(xl  ifom  the  coast  to  the  islands
f  .  certain  limits,  for  domestic  puiioses  ;  in
^  ’  w/  consider  that  as  slave  trade,
re^npct  m  ^  existing  laws  of  Zanzibar  with
ThLe  nro*  the  transport  of  slaves  ?—
memm
3i's:sE.?s

Zanzibar  affecting  the  slave  trade  ?—There  have
been  several  treaties;  the  first  was  in  1820  with
the  friendly  Arab  tribes  on  the  Persian  Gulf.
By  that  treaty  'Gt  is  provided  that  the  carryino-  off
of  slaves,  men,  women,  and  children,  from  *^the
coasts  of  Africa,  or  elsewhere,  and  the  transporting ­
  them  in  vessels,  is  plunder  and  piracy,  and
the  friendly  Arabs  shall  do  nothing  of  this
nature.”  That  was  the  first  treaty.  There  was
then  a  treaty  with  the  Imaum  of  Muscat  (Muscat
and  Zanzibar  being  then  under  one  sovereign)  in
1822,  and  a  further  one  in  1839,  but  it  is  hardly
worth  while  referring  to  them,  because  they  were
niuchstronger  treaty  in  October
1845,  which  IS  the  treaty  to  which  we  now  appeal,
lhat  was  signed  by  Captain  Hamerton,  who
was  our  agent  at  Muscat,  and  Syud  Saeed,  who
was  Sultan^  of  Muscat  and  Zanzibar.  By  that
treaty  the  Sultan  engaged  to  prohibit  for  himself.
Ins  heirs,  and  successors  under  the  severest  penaL
ties,  the  export  of  slaves  from  his  African  dominions,
  and  for  the  first  time  renounced  for  ever
the  right  of  importing  slaves  from  any  part  of
Aiiica  into  his  possessions  in  Asia,  into  Arabia,
the  Red  Sea,  and  Persian  Gulf,  and  engaged  to
i^e  his  influence  with  the  chiefs  there  to  prevent
t  e  introduction  of  slaves  into  their  respective
teiiitories.  Up  to  that  time,  he  had  always  maintained ­
  the  right  to  carry  on  the  traffic  between  his
dominions  in  Arabia  and  his  dominions  in  Africa
but  for  the  firat  time  in  this  treaty  he  renounced
that  light.  He  gave  permission  to  his  Maiesty’s
CTuisers,  as  well  as  to  those  of  the  East  India
Company,  to  seize  and  confiscate  his  vessels  carrying ­
  on  the  slave  trade  wherever  found,  excepting ­
  those  engaged  in  transporting  slaves  from  one
poit  to  another  of  his  African  dominions,  between
the  limits  of  Lanioo  to  the  north  and  Kilwa  to
^  the

Hon.
C*  Vivian.
10  July
1871.