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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92 APPENDIX TO REPORT FROM SELECT COMMITTEE Appendix, No. 1. 2.—As to Documents found on Board the detained Ships, Articles 58, 69, 85. These Articles which prescribe measures for the preservation and final delivery to the Court of Adjudication of all papers and documents found on board the detained vessels, are to be carried out with perfect fidelity and scrupulous care. The unexplained loss of any such document, and still more its destruction, on any pre text whatsoever, will lay the officer open to very serious imputation. 3.—As to the Destruction of Vessels. Articles 60, 61. These Articles give authority to the officer to destroy a vessel which, on search, he considers to be engaged in or equipped for the slave trade, if, after survey held, it appears that she is not in a sufficiently sea-worthy condition to be sent to a port of adjudication. My Lords cannot, however, too strongly insist that such destruction of a vessel is only to be resorted to as an extreme measure. Nothing will excuse the officer in not sending in the vessel to a port of adjudication, except facts showing satisfactorily that doing so would have involved serious danger to the lives of the prize crew. In addition to this, the 390th Article is to be strictly observed as to Zanzibar vessels; “ If you have detained a Zanzibar vessel upon suspicion, and are unable to send her into the proper port of adjudication, you will not destroy her without (if prac ticable) having first ascertained at the nearest Zanzibar port, by inquiries from Her Majesty’s consul and others, that she was engaged in or equipped for the slave trade.” You are also strictly to observe all similar articles, with respect to vessels of other nationalities, to be found in the Special Instructions. 4.—As to the Port of Adjudication. Articles 63, 65, 389. The two first named of these articles prescribe the general duty of forwarding the detained vessel with as little delay as possible to the port of adjudication, and direct the officer to refer to the special instructions to ascertain the proper port. The 389th Article, referring to Zanzibar vessels only, is as follows:— “ The proper port of adjudicatation for a Zanzibar vessel is the nearest or most accessible port at which a British Admiralty, or Vice Admiralty Court, is estab lished.” Since the issuing of these instructions, certain powers have been conferred on Her Majesty’s consul at Zanzibar, by Order in Council of 9th August 1866, and the statute 32 & 33 Viet. c. 75. The 29th section of the Order in Council is in these words :— “ And it is further ordered that Her Majesty’s consul within the dominion of the Sultan of Zanzibar shall, for and within the said dominions, and for vessels and persons coming within those dominions, and in regard to vessels captured on suspi cion of being engaged in the slave trade within those dominions, have all such jurisdiction as for the time being ordinarily belongs to Courts of Vice Admiralty in Her Majesty’s possessions abroad.” The Act of Parliament extends the consul’s power; for the 2nd section is in these terms:— Her Majesty’s consul at Zanzibar for the time being shall have, and shall be deemed to have always since the commencement of the said Order in Council had, all It is quite otherwise where the slaves are found crowded and chained together, and are obviously being carried as cargo to be sold as slaves. Between these two classes of cases there are intermediate cases ; some of a doubtful character. It must rest with the officer to distinguish to what class any particular case belongs by a careful consideration of all the circumstances ; bearing in mind always this, that it is his duty to detain the vessel if he is reasonably satisfied that she is engaged in or equipped for the slave trade, but not otherwise. Officers must further observe that by the 388th Article of the Instructions, a right is reserved to the subjects of the Sultan of Zanzibar of transporting slaves within certain limits therein specified. That right, however, has by a special order of the Sultan, dated 1863, been waived during the months of January, February, March, and April.

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