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). 159 to the period referred to, they were doubtless regarded as a conquered race ; as subjects. Appendix, No. 8. not citizens. They were ruled by local authorities generally sent from the seat of govern ment at Muscat, and, as a people, were not allowed any part in the public administration. For obvious reasons, such must necessarily have been the state of those countries on the accession of the late Syud Saeed. Their conquest by his predecessor was of recent date, and their subjection to Oman was, in many instances, merely nominal. Moreover, their importance, both in a political and commercial point of view, was then inconsiderable, the Arabs valuing them more as a nursery from whence they could readily procure an abundant supply of slaves than for any other cause. U nder such circumstances, it is not surprising that the people of Zanzibar and its African dependencies should have had no voice in the election of their sovereign. 28. But during the reigm of his late Highness Syud Saeed, extending over a period of 50 years, the general condition of those countries underwent a surprising change : his sovereignty over them was firmly established: large numbers of Arabs from Oman settled on the African mainland and the adjacent islands ; agriculture and commerce were extensively promoted ; and Zanzibar, which in 1834 was described by the commander of Her Majesty’s ship “Imogene” as having ‘Oittle or no trade,” possessed in 1859 an aggre- * Rkby’s gate trade estimated at 1,664,577 /. sterling.* Moreover, the revenue derivable from letter, No. 39, of those dependencies has increased in the same rates. Colonel Rigby writes : “ Twenty-five i860, years aoo the late Imaum did not receive more than 50,000 crowns of annual revenue from his African possessions. In 1847 it had increased to 145,000 crowns; and at pre sent the revenue amounts to 206,000 crowns.”! In 1840 Syud Saeed removed the seat ^ Appendix B, reply of government from Muscat to Zanzibar, ruling Oman mostly through a deputy ; and it to Query 39. was doubtless ov/ing to the presence and energy of the sovereign that the African posses sions of the kingdom made such remarkable and social commercial progress. Those pos sessions are actually more extensive, and far more fertile and valuable in every way, than the Arabian territories, and their annual revenue exceeds the revenue of the latter to the amount of 77,000 crowns, or about 16,000/. sterling. 29. Such being the altered condition and circumstances of the African dependencies, it seems consonant with reason and justice (considering the form of government which pre vailed in Oman) that the people of those countries should have a voice in the election of the sovereio-n. They accordingly availed themselves of the prorogative on the death of the late Syud Saeed, and chose his son Syud Majeed to be their ruler in preference to Syud Thoweynee, who had succeeded to the sovereignty of the parent State. Regarded from one point of view, the Act may be characterised as a national revolution, and as such, Syud Thoweynee, the sovereign of Oman, was justified in counteracting it, and in attempting to establish his own claims by an appeal to arms if success was unattainable in any other way. Apart from all consideration of the alleged cause which eventually induced him to project an invasion of the Zanzibar territories for that purpose, namely, the non-payment by Syud Majeed of the stipulated sum of 40,000 crowns after the first year ; the custom in similar cases which had invariably obtained, especially in the family of the reigning dynasty on the demise of the sovereign, fully warranted Syud Thoweynee in regarding the attitude assumed by Syud Majeed as an usurpation of the hereditary rights of the sovereigns of Oman. 30. Svud Thoweynee prepared accordingly to contest the sovereignty of the African dependencies with his brother Majeed. With that object in view, he probably resorted to every available stratagem to secure ultimate success ; and there can be little doubt that, Avhen his expedition sailed from Muscat, he had won over a party at Zanzibar, chiefly among the El-Harlh tribe, who were ready co-operate with him. Syud Majeed, on the other hand, made corresponding preparations to repel the invasion, and it may fairly be presumed that he was equally active in the use of all the intrigues sanctioned by Arab warfare to thwart the schemes of his antagonist. There is every reason, indeed, to believe that to this end he took advantage of the misunderstanding which existed at the time between Syud Thoweynee and Syud Toorkee of Sohar, and by dint of persuasions and promises succeeded in enlisting the latter on his side. 31. Such was the attitude of the belligerent parties when the Government of Bombay interposed to prevent a collision between them. At the solicitation of the late Lord Elphinstone, Syud Thowevnee agreed to abandon the expedition to Zanzibar, and to refer his claims to the arbitration of the Right Honourable the Governor General of India, Syud Majeed at Zanzibar consenting, through Colonel Rigby, to abide in like manner by his Lordship’s decision. 32. The intrigues and counter-intrigues which followed this arrangement, and which, in October of last year, resulted in an Insurrection of the El-Harth tribe at Zanzibar, headed by Syud Barghfish, call for notice, chiefly with a view to determine the culpability of the respective parties in fomenting them. Under the plea of recalling a part of the expedition which had preceded him to Zanzibar, Syud Thoweynee is severely censured! for having attempted, through liis agent llamed bin Salem, to settle the differences subsisting between himself and his brother Syud Majeed, after he had consented to submit his claims to the arbitration of the Governor General of India. His .Highness’s explanation of that trans action is to the following effect :—After receiving the communication from Government through Colonel Russell, which induced me to abandon the expedition and to submit my 0.U6. u 4 case f Letter from the Government of India, No. 4590, of 1859, Foreign Department.

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