Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 832922498

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-79587

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

Place of publication:: [London]

Publisher:: [The House of Commons]

Year of publication:: 1871

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (XXIV, 242 S.)

Collection:: Economics Books

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86 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE Mr. E. Hutchimon, 25 July 1871. Mr. Edward Hutchinson, called in ; and Examined. 1336. Chairman.'] You aie one of the Secre taries of the Church Missionary Society?—I am, 1337. Has your society been instituting in quiries with respect to the suitability of Sey chelles as a place to which to send liberated slaves ?—I may say shortly that the whole of this matter has been before our committee for the last four years ; we have been investigating it thoroughly for that time, and we arrived at this conclusion, that the Seychelles was the most suit able place at which a depot for liberated slaves could be established ; and, in anticipation of the Government agreeing with our view, we sent a missionary there with instructions to purchase a property there, and commence a training institu tion ; we did not do that till we had ascertained from the fullest evidence we could collect upon the subject, that Seychelles was the best place for the purpose. We sent a gentleman from the Mauritius to the Seychelles who sent us a report, an epitome of which I have here, and he also procured for us a report by Mr. Swinburne Ward, the Government Commissioner at the Seychelles, speaking in the most favourable terms of the Seychelles as being suitable for a depot for liberated slaves. 1338. Would your society be prepared to send agents to the Seychelles for the instruction and civilisation of liberated slaves who might be sent there?—We have an agent there now, and he was quite ready to set to work, but a stop was put to the whole matter by the Government refusing to send any more slaves to the Seychelles. If any number of liberated slaves had been sent to the Seychelles we were prepared to have ap plied for a sufficient number of lads and children to train and teach, with the hope, at some future .time, of their returning to Africa. And I say this because the Committee may perhaps not be aware that Dr, Livingstone, when he last went to Africa, took with him nine lads from our insti tution in Bombay ; that is the institution to which the Government of Bombay sent slave children captured in the Indian Ocean ; and from that institution Dr. Livingstone selected nine lads to accompany him in his travels into the interior of Africa, and who are now with him ; and in a Report in 1866, by Dr. Livingstone, which is to be found in the papers before the Committee, he mentions that one of those lads met his own uncle at the very village from which he had been torn as a child, and the uncle, find ing the value that this lad would be to him, having been taught agriculture and carpentry at Nassick, proposed that he should stay with him, but the lad’s answer was, “ No,” he preferred staying with his master. Dr. Livingstone. 1338*. Will you hand in the epitome of the Reports respecting the Seychelles ?—{The Wit ness handed in the same, vide Appendix.) 1339. Is there anything else which you wish to state to the Committee ?—I should like to say that we have given this subject very careful con sideration, and we believe that the recommen dations contained in the Report of the Committee which sat at the Foreign Office are very valuable, but there is one particular in which we dissent from them, and that is, the recommendation con tained in paragraph 64. We dissent entirely from the proposal that those children should be liberated at the Island of Zanzibar, and the^^ handed over to any master fi om whom they migy. take wages ; it is a proposal which we think entirely opposed to the whole policy that Government have hitherto adopted in dealiP- with the slave trade. , . 1340. It was your society principally whi*i drew the attention of the Government to tk^' matter, was it not?—We have pressed this ter upon the Government at various times. years ago we went on a deputation to the Intk*' Office, which resulted in the appointment of fk Foreign Office Committee. 1341. The Bishop of Mauritius brought fk ^ matter before you ?—He brought the matter fore us in 1867, and since that time we have bc^^ perpetually working to bring public opinion ^ bear upon it. 1342. Mr. Kimiaird.] Is there any other pD^.^ besides the Seychelles which would be suita^G for the establishment of schools for the liberal _ slave children ?-—1 might say at the Maurih|\ itself there is a large establishment, which been superintended by our missionaries, there the Mauritius government have done ^vk the Government did at Sierra Leone, nain^*i they have given 6 d. a-head per diem for evß^' child we would take and train. That has carried on for a long time very successfully C deed ; and Governor Barclay, in one of k letters, says, if we could establish a similar in: _ ^ tution at the Seychelles, he has no doubt ik''^ the Mauritius government would make a for the purpose. 1343. Mr. Kennaway.] You would prefer W any settlement of slaves should be under ^ ^ British flag?—We take that position, because liberated slave is a British subject ; the pre¿^¿ Act of Parliament requires that slaves shall l liberated in British dominions ; that is the p^^ from which we start. 1 1344. Do you think, supposing the libet^j^^ slaves were congregated at the Seychelles, would be able to isolate them from the immorak ' of the place ; it has a bad character atpre^ ^, has it not?—It has a bad character; the chelles consists of a group of seven islands, the evidence we have rather leads to the con^ . sion that Mahi would be the best lor our 0^^ tions ; but we have no doubt that we should y able so to train the emancipated slaves as to vent them from being affected by any iminor^k j there may be in the place ; and, moreover, ik are only children ; and it is a point which y) important to bear in mind that a large majority the slaves captured are children. à 1345. Mr. Kumaird.] The Church Missioß^) Society are willing to undertake that work' , Yes. 1346. You only ask the Government to Ijgi' tribute a small payment ?—-Six-pence per - .g per diem would completely cover the exp^k^^i that is what the Government have given Sierra Leone 1347. Mr. J. settlement at Talbot.] Why would not sit^ ^ Zanzibar be satisfactory?— seems to be very little evidence as to the the Sultan could bring to bear to protect k rated slaves there. Besides, from what I k^i)' read I should say that Zanzibar is a verf J healthy place ; the only place where a d^^l'

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