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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21 ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). to say that the payment of 1,500 relates solely o the agency. I do not see that we could put ^ stop to the slave trade there, without relieving Sultan of Zanzibar from the payment of the subsidy, or giving him some equivalent. 278. ^ Would the recommendations which your ouimitteg made with respect to the squadron, ^utail increased cost upon this country ?—That ^ui not in a position to state. 279. Have you seen some observations made y Sir Leopold Heath on the Report of the East '^oast African Slave Trade Committee ?—Yes. ^80. Perhaps, you recollect these extracts, “ I Very much regret that the evidence upon which Heport is based, has not been published, be- ^ause any opinion I may give, will be merely bat of an individual, and would, perhaps, have materially modified had I seen the recorded ^Videuce of others. With this reservation I ave to state, that I can in no way agree with Opinion expressed in paragraph 36, that with bree cruisers and one steam-launch, the slave lade will be effectually checked during the §i'eater part of the year ! I have frequently Recorded my opinion, that all that England has uoiie for the last 25 years, on the east coast, has been of no practical use in the suppression of the slave trade ; and now that there is an apparent intention on the part of Government to inaugu rate a more vigorous policy, I must earnestly ope that the squadron will be largely increased, ^o long as the existing domestic habits in slave re- oeiymg countries remaining unchanged, so long . there be more or less of slave trade. Those .its can only be changed by completely stop- P(ii» the supply of slaves for a very long period, piobably for a whole generation, and any system 'vhich stops short of that Avill fail of complete rVccess. The trade will be scotched, but not bled, and will revive whenever the pressure is aken off. I recommend, therefore, that at least Vessels, besides the flagship, should be appro- pi'iated to this source.” Do you concur in that opinion?—Rot being a naval officer, I am not ^^petent to give an opinion upon that. He further says: ‘‘I wish to add, that etwithstanding my general agreement with lany of the proposals of the Committee, and my . ^l^^Gf, that if carried out, they will make slave lading more hazardous, and tend to reduce its ^niount. I am yet more and more convinced, . lat the only certain way of stopping the traffic by purchasing the sovereignty of Zanzibar, ^bd thus obtaining a central position from which b Work upon the neighbouring coast, and ulti- Upon the interior of the country.” From bee passages, it appears that, at any rate. Sir Gopold Heath is not of opinion that the mere payment of 1,500 Z. a year would stop the slave rade ? I do not think anybody would say that e mere payment of 1,500 Z. a year would put a 13 July 1871. stop to the trade, but we must have a beginning. Sir and this is the agency by which it is to be IFi Kaye. stopped. The expenses of the agency mi^ht have to be siqiplemented afterwards by other payments, but this is a beginning, and this is all which the Treasury hitherto has been called upon to pay. There may subsequently arise a question, because it is still an open question, about relieving the Sultan of Zanzibar from the payment of the subsidy, as a matter of breach of good faith, and if we cannot relieve him from the payment of the subsidy, it would have to be con sidered whether we can in any way produce a sum of money sufficient to compensate him in another way for the surrender of the revenue which he derives from his slave trade. The 1,500 Z. is a beginning ; of course there would be subsequent expenses, but as to what Sir Leopold Heath says as to purchasing Zanzibar, you might as well talk of purchasing Germany. 282. He speaks of the Island of Zanzibar ?— That is the head-quarters of Zanzibar ; how could we doit? In the first place, the Sultan would not sell it. There has been subsequently another recommendation, that we should annex it, as the term goes. I believe the Rombay Government supported that view of the matter, but imme diately it was known here the India Office telegraphed to India that it would not be enter tained for a moment. 283. Possibly, even with a sincere desire on the part of the Treasury to put down the slave trade, the view might be held that it is not worth while to incur the expense of 1,500 Z. un less the country is further prepared to go to the expense of maintaining 10 ships on the coast, besides other expenses ?—What I say is, that it might be economical in tlie end, even if that increase of the squadron were required (to which I cannot speak), because to maintain 10 ships for three years is better than to maintain three ships for 20 years ; it is only a matter of calculation ; the probability is that it would be cheaper in the end. The Committee assumed that there might be a temporary increase of expenditure to be set off against permanent diminution. 284. Chairman?^ Evidence was given the other day, and you have confirmed it so far as your knowledge goes, that a certain limited number of slaves is sufficient for the labour re quired i n Zanzibar proper ; it is only with reference to that limited number of slaves that the treaty with the Sultan of Zanzibar permits any slave traffic ; that number being given us as 1,700 only per year, there must be a large illegal traffic in slaves?—1 do not know how the 1,700 is calcu lated; whether that is the absolute number of able-bodied labourers, or whether allowance is made for those too old to work, or for children. I am not responsible for these figures. Mr. Henry Adrian Churchill, c.b., called in; and Examined. j,-Cliairman.'\ You have resided some con- orable time at Zanzibar ?—Two years and nine Months altogether. 286. In what capacity ?—As political agent consul. all the particulars « ^h have been stated already, as to the amount wh +L trade and so forth, I will ask you ether you are acquainted with the statements of Dr. Livingstone with regard to the slave trade ?—Yes ; I have read his book, and I do not think them exaggerated at all from what I have heard from Dr. Kirk, who accompanied Dr. Livingstone. In conversations with the former, I have gleaned that the road between Nyassa and the coast is strewn with the bones of slaves that have been killed or abandoned on the road, and the villages which, on their first visit were C 3 flourishing Mr. Churchill,

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