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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14 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE 13 July J871. Sir for India signs the consular commission instead J. W. Kaye, of the Secretary of State for Foreign Aifairs. 193. He has always been an officer of the Indian Government ?—He has always been, till Mr. Churchill was appointed. Mr. Churchill previously to his ajipointment had not been in the Indian service. In 1867, Colonel Playfair, an officer of the Indian Artillery, v/as British agent and consul at Zanzibar, and, finding that the climate did not agree with him (Mr. Churchill will jirobably tell you presently how it liappened), he and Mr. Churchill managed to change ap pointments, Mr. Churchill being then consul general in Algeria. Colonel Playfair accord- ingly went to Algeria to be consul-general there, and Mr. Churchill was appointed to be agent and consul at Zanzibar. I believe it was approved by the Bombay Government ; but Mr, Churchill was the first officer representing British interests at Zanzibar who was not an officer of the Indian Government ; he became, by being so appointed, an officer of the uncovenanted service of the Indian Government, but he was not an Indian officer, trained up in the school of Indian diplo macy. 194. ^ That was done independently of the mithority of the Indian Government here ?— Yes, V e knew nothing about it here, but it must liciYG been approved by the Bombay Grovernment or it could not have taken place. I should state that the agent and consul at Zanzibar receives his insti notions jiartly from the Foreign Office and partly from the Governments of India or Bombay. 195. Has any inconvenience arisen from the duplex action of the Foreign Office and the India Office?—A good deal, I think, at dif ferent times ; but in order to avoid discordant instructions to the political agent and consul proceeding from two different authorities at the same time, we came to the arrangement that on all matters connected with the slave trade the entile instructions should come from the Foreign Office, and that the India Office should super intend the political and general business of the agency. It was contended, too, at the India Office, that as a very great proportion, indeed the larger proportion, of the business of the agent and consul at Zanzibar was the business of the slave trade, we considered it was extremely unjust to the India Government that the whole of the expenses of the Zanzibar agency should be defrayed, as they now are, by the Indian Govern ment. ^ Indeed, in Sir Charles 'Wood’s time, it was said, that, considering that almost the entire business was business connected with the slave ^ade, he thought it might be advisable that the x! oreign Office should take over the whole management of it, and pay the whole expense. This was demurred to, and, I believe, after some coirespondence, the Foreign Office offered to pay 200/. a year towards the expenses of it, which was not accepted. 196. What is the total expense of the British establishment at Zanzibar, ivhich is paid out of the Indian revenues ?- I had the account made out when recently we were in correspondence with the Foreign Office on the subject; it was calculated that if we had carried out the idea of IVi( mg it, the share of each department would lia-s ejieen 1,509/. the gross amount being 3,019 /. n B hat are the treaty obligations, politi- ol J, of the Sultan of Zanzibar to the British Go’v einment ? Independent of all tlie slave trade relations, the principal obligations arise out of tha arbitrament that was carried out in 1860 with regard to the division of the states of the old Imaum of Muscat, Syed Saeed, between two ot Ins sons. Before his death he divided his kino-- doni or principality, or whatever it might be called, between two of his sons, leaving Muscat to his son named Syed Thowaynee, and leavin<r Zanzibar to his son named Syed Mejid; and the kingdom was accordingly divided between the two sons. It was afterwards arranged between them that, considering that the Zanzibar state yielded a larger amount of revenue than the other, it would be equalised by Zanzibar pajino- to J\^scat the sum of 40,000 dollars annWly. Atter a certain time, as generally happens amonpt eastern people, the Zanzibar man did not pay the subsidy and he was two years in arrear. Upon this, Syed Ihowanee appealed to our Go vernment, and at the same time he prepared to tit out a maritime expedition to compel the Sultan ot Zanzibar to pay this subsidy. His ffeets were getting ready when the Government of India (who thought it would be extremely inconvenient that this expedition should take place, and so, perhaps, throw all the maritime chiefs along the Persian Gulf into confusion), recommended him to stop the expedition, and said that they would send a special commission to inquire into the cir- ^m^ance^ Accordingly the Government of Bombay (bir George Clerk beinir Governor q. \ vjuvernor at the time), supported by Lord Canning, sent a special commission, at the head of which was brigadier-general, now Sir William Coffiilan, which inquired into all the circumstances and managed to conciliate the parties, and ’their conc usión was, that the Sultan of Zanzibar should pay the arrears of the subsidy, i.e. the 80,000 crowns that were due, and that he should go on paying the 40,000 crowns annually. Ihe two chiefs agreed to this most cordially and the award was guaranteed by Lord Canning, so that It became, in point of fact, a substantive en gagement, though it does not take the form of a treaty. That, in a political point of view, is the most important ma#er in the relations between the Gov^nment of India and Zanzibar, and the ^pent Gi^ernment of India say, it is the only thing that binds us to Zanzibar at all. 198. Are the relations between the two states noAv on an amicable footing ?—There has been a ffing history of revolution since that time. Syed Thoweynee, with whom the arrangement was made, and to whom the subsidy was jiaid, was killed by bis own son, Syed Salim, who usurped the government; upon which Syed Mejid said m effect, »it was all very well to pay this to my brother, but this man is a parricide and an uprper and I demur to paying the money to him. Then that, of course, brought up a new embarrassment, and after a considerable amount of discussion on the ^bject it was arranged that ffieamoimtofthe subsidy should be paid Into the Bombay Government, as the Sultan of Zanzibar thought he could not properly pay the money to ^an who had killed his (Syed Mejid’s)brother. He said he did not wish to shirk his obligations, but he would pay the 40,000 crownsayeiS toth¿ Go\ einment, and they might do what they liked wi ^ it. I think he paid in two years’ subsidy ;. 11 ill t le meantime another man rose up, called Syec Azan-aben G bias, and he turned out Syed Salim ; he was not one of the brothers, but he was a distant connexion of the family, and it was

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