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). XV house at Kilwa between 1862 and 1867, distinguishing those sent to Zanzibar from those shipped to other places :— Elsewhere. 5.500 3.500 3,000 4,000 4.500 20,500 “ 13. From a despatch of Dr. Kirk, dated 1st February 1870, it appears that 14,944. were exported from Kilwa in the year ending 23rd August 1869. But besides those passed through the Custom-house at Kilwa, numbers are exported from other places on the coast. “ 14. Snch is the extent to which the exportation of slaves takes place from the Zanzibar territory on the Fast Coast of Africa. It has also been shown that there the slave trade still exists from the Portuguese territory to the Island of Madagascar, and that slaves are still imported into Turkish ports in the Bed Sea, General Bigby having recently seen fresh importations even in the civilised port of Suez. It must not, however, be thought that those who are taken captive, great as the numbers are, represent in- any degree the total number of the sufferers from this iniquitous traffic. Such is the fearful loss of life resulting from this traffic, such the miseries which attend it, that, according to Dr. Livingstone and others, notone in five, in some cases not one in ten, of the victims of the slave hunters ever reach the coast alive. “ 15. Measures have at various times been adopted by the Government of this country to control and check the trade, but hitherto with but partial success; these measures have been two-fold. y To control the trade, treaties have been made with the Sultan of Muscat, with the friendly Arab chiefs on the Arabian coast, and with the Shah of Persia. The treaties with the Sultan of Muscat are acknowledged to be binding upon the Sultan of Zanzibar, who has issued orders accordingly, and they prohibit the export of slaves from Africa, as well as their import from Africa into Asia, Arabia, the Bed Sea, or Persian Gulf, but permit the transport of slaves to and fro between Kilwa, Zanzibar, and any coast port up to Lamoo, which is the northern limit of the Sultan of Zanzibar’s dominions. ‘‘ 16. The result of the treaties, as far as the Sultan of Zanzibar is concerned, is, that not only are the slave traders enabled to rendezvous in great numbers at Zanzibar, but the slaver, laden with slaves, starting from Zanzibar, and provided with proper clearances for Lamoo, is enabled to make the first half of the journey north unmolested by British cruisers. “ 17. The object of the British Government in assenting to these treaty provisions was to ^'Oid interference with the status of domestic slavery in the dominions of the Sultan . f\”/^oar, as appears by a Despatch from the Bight Honourable Earl Bussell dated 14th March 1864, in which it is stated that Her Majesty’s Government do not claim the right to interfere in the status of domestic slavery in Zanzibar, nor with the bona fide transport of slaves from one part of the Sultan’s teritory to another. “ 18. It appears from the evidence that the admission of the Sultan of Zanzibar’s right to transport slaves between his island and coast dominions has afforded a cover for the foreign slave trade, as the traders procure at Zanzibar or Kilwa the requisite port clear ances and passes for Lamoo, and thence run northwards, taking their chance of escapin«- the British cruisers. ^ ^ Year. 1862- 63 1863- 64 1864- 65 1865- 66 1866- 67 Zanzibar. 1 3,000 14,000 13,821 18,344 17.538 Total Exports from Kilwa 1 in Five vears - - I 76,703 20,500 97,203 ‘"19. There are no means of ascertaining the exact numbers intended for the foreign market, but different witnesses have estimated the numbers annually needed to maintain ® of slave labour in the dominion of Zanzibar, at from 1,700 to 3,000, which wou d leave at least 17,000 as the number destined for the foreign slave market. The rea y stipulations and agreements with the Sultans of Muscat and Zanzibar have been cariie mto effect by various Acts of Parliament and Orders in Council, which contain pioxnsion tor the establishment of courts of adjudication for the trial of vessels captured as slavers at Zanzibar. r ,1 carrying out of these measures has been committed to the Political Agent o the Governor General of India, who also holds the appointment of British Consul at ^anzibar, and, in addition to the ordinary duties of a Political Agent and Consul, is ®Admiralty Court. The expenses of this establishment are borne by the Indian Government, ^ 420. b 4 21. The

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