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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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 pro duced 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 misrepre sentations 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 representa tive 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 Depart ment. + Rigby letter. No. 94, of 1859.

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