ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA).
53
to leave the cruising ground, and might not
^ any (thows pass then?—No ; the number capgjj^^^was
only 11, and the slaves were not in
o .^ient number to require the ships to leave
ground, except in three of those cases,
to L ‘ ] According to that it seems
ye utterly hopeless by any efforts of the
^^isers to put a stop to the trade ?—By any
^rts of cruisers in numbers such as we have
I think it is hopeless.
^^0. But the number would appear to be suffih
in this case, because you say that you think
^^I’dly any guilty dhows escaped?—I think the
J^isers should be near the rivers and places of
^P<jrt, at the same time as they are near the
Wh^* of import. I had not ships enough to do
0.^91. Xhen with an increased squadron you
^ something more might be done ?—I can
^iy Say I hope something more might be done.
^92. One may collect that you do not anticipate
^?y complete stoppage of the trade by any efforts
ihe cruisers ?—I think we have gone on for
^ years and have done no good whatever.
693. Can you suggest any way in which we
A'lld clo good by means of the fleet ?—I think,
.^ibre giving up the attempt as hopeless, we must
every possible method that suggests itself
^ Carrying out England’s wishes, one of those
^thods clearly is the increase of the squadron,
the result which I have detailed of my own
■^perience rather shows that the number of
^ ^Ves to foreign countries cannot be as great
fhe custom-house statistics would show.
694. You think there are not really so many
ç^Ported?—I think there are not really so many
^Ported ; at the same time, I cannot understand
1 bat becomes of them ; the number reported to
v®,exported is taken from data which seem rebable.
p Sir J, Ho,y.~\ Supposing you were apb^ted
again to the East Indian command, and
you
''vere told that you might have for three years,
liiiF ^ years, or till the trade was suppressed, an
bruited number of ships, both for the blockade
me Arabian Coast and the Persian Gulf, and
^ 0 portions of Africa from which the slaves were
^^.jborted ; will you state for the Committee,
^ at number of ships you would conceive to be
^J.ccssary to enable you to carry out with cerj
^^ty the total annihilation of the slave trade ? —
Ç bo not think any number would suffice with
.ç^b^jaiiity, but I should ask for 10 ships to begin
yb96. Chairman.~\ Ten instead of seven? —
• ^97, J)q think that would very materially
j^^^case the number of captures ? — I think the
ßjber would be increased,
sid J. Hay.~\ I think you have had con-^-^able
experience on the West Coast oí Africa?
yes.
699.
tb
Are you aware of the number of ships
Con employed on that length of coast, as
Iç^^Pared with the number employed along this
pL^^b of coast ; was not the number of ships emj^^yed
on the West Coast of Africa very much
considerable than that for which you now
U^^’^-Very much more considerable, and the
of the sea is far more favourable for blockoperations.
Or f Aot looking to the economical question,
the probability of the number of ships that
Q ^bght ask for being given you, assuming
that the country was determined to put down the
slave trade on the East Coast of Africa in the
same way as on the West Coast ; would you say
that 10 ships, or anything like 10 ships, would be
sufficient to cover the 4,000 miles to be blockaded
on the East Coast ?—No matter how many ships
you have, there will of course always be some vessels
which escape being boarded ; it is quite possible,
that, though we boarded 400 dhows during the
season I have spoken of, there may have been
400 others that passed outside us ; but when I
said that I thought we must have boarded nearly
all dhows that came up, I referred to those that
passed along the coast ; the Arabs have very
good information ; I do not think that they
knew what I intended to do, but it is quite
possible that they did. »
701. Chairman.'] Do you think that by having
more Consular Agents along the coast, you would
have the means of deriving better information
upon the subject of the slave trade?—I think
the appointment of Vice Consuls along the coast,
would be a most valuable thing, not only as
regards giving us information, but as regards
pushing our political influence.
702. Did you hear the evidence of the last
witness with respect to the desirability of appointing
a naval officer to be permanently
stationed on the coast?—Yes.
703. Do you approve of that suggestion?—
It is practically what is now going on ; there is
the Admiral commanding the whole of the Indian
station ; he has as his senior officer a captain of
some standing generally stationed for a considerable
time down at Zanzibar. I do not attach as
much importance as General Rigby seemed to do,
to prolonged experience ; I think the experience
of one year is no guide to what will happen the
next ; if I were there myself, I should take care
to vary my tactics annually, because I believe
whatever is done in one year would be frustrated
by the Arabs the next; if they knew I had
adopted one line in one year, they would themselves
adopt some other line the next, and I
should try and meet them.
704. Was there anything in your instructions
that in any way impeded your success ; any
limitation of your power ?—There was nothing
whatever in my instructions to limit my action
till the issue, by the Admiralty, of a circular
dated 6th November 1869, which appears at page
94 of Class B, East Coast of Africa Correspondence
from 1st January to 31st December 1869.
That circular made an unpleasant iinpression
upon all the officers commanding the ships under
my orders. Its manner was accusatory as to the
past and threatening as to the future ; its matter
was, principally the forbidding the capture of
dhows for having domestic slaves aboard.
705. Do you think there were many slaves
carried in that way in those dhows which were
not classed as guilty dhows?—There is no doubt
that a very large number of slaves must have
been carried in that way. At page 75 of the
same Blue Book are extracts from letters found
in some of the dhows, being inclosurcs in my
letter to Sir Seymour Fitzgerald replying to a
complaint of Sir Edward Russell, the Judge of
the Vice Admiralty Court at Aden, as to dhows
being captured for having domestic slaves on
board. These show that domestic slaves are
frequently carried to sea for sale.
706. What I was wanting to arrive at was
whether, allowing the dhows to pass with domes-G
3 tic
Sir
,. G. Heath,
20 July
1871,’
