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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22 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE Mr. Churchill. 13 1871* flourishing, were on their second visit quite aban doned and destroyed ; in fact, the whole place had been reduced to a state of desolation. 288. \ ou would not think the statement ex aggerated, perhaps, that for every slave brought to Zanzibar there is a loss of four or five ad ditional lives ?—No, I think it is not exaggerated ; they are better taken care of, of course, after they reach Zanzibar ; there, they become com paratively happy. I do not even think they would return to their own country if they had the offer to do so ; but the land journey is very trying, and in the course of it they are subjected to great cruelty, as is also the case when they are carried by sea, particularly when they fall into the hands of the northern Arabs. 289. Your special duties at Zanzibar, I pre sume, are, first, the general political relations, and, secondly, the protection of such British sub jects as there are in Zanzibar?—Yes; British subjects, and British protected subjects. 290. How many British subjects and British protected subjects are there?—You may take them at about 4,000 altogether; .3,710 British protected subjects and British Indians; mostly British protected subjects from Kutch, 291. You have, I presume, to preside at the courts ?—There are many lawsuits amongst those peoples, and the political agent has the decision of them when the plaintiff is an Arab or a subject of our own, and the defendant a British protected subject ; the number of lawsuits decided in the first year that I was there was something like 90 or 100, later it came down a little. Dr, Kirk reported that in 1869 there were 67 lawsuits, and that the amount adjudicated for was about 11,000 /. or 12,000/. 292. Have you any criminal jurisdiction ?— Yes, as in all eastern countries. We can sentence a man to twelve months' imprisonment, and to a fine of 1,000 dollars, but not beyond that. If the offence was one requiring a greater punish ment the criminal would have to go to Bom bay. 293. What do your consular duties involve? —The ordinary consular duties ; shipping, naval courts, the protection of seamen, and everything connected with shipping; the protection (ff British subjects, the issue of passports, notarial deeds, and so on ; and beyond that there is the slave trade, which is quite peculiar to the Zan zibar consulate ; that occasions an enormous amount of work ; in fact, the greater part of the work connected with Zanzibar is the slave trade. The establishment of the Vice-Admiralty Cmrt has involved a great deal of work. 294. You preside there?—Yes. During the first year it was established, about 30 dhows were condemned, and I think about the same number are condemned every year. That involves a great deal of work, particularly as the staff of the consulate is very limited. The staff of the consulate is so small, that I was obliged to apply for the services of Dr. Kirk, who was the medical attendant of the agency ; his duties were simply to attend to the health of the establishment, it being at the same time open to him to offer his medical services to the Sultan, and to the inhabitants of the place; but with Dr. Kirk’s concurrence, I wrote to India, and got him an increase of salary, and by that means he was enabled to give up a portion of his prac tice, and assist me in my consular duties. I subsequently obtained the services of a clerk, as the work went on increasing, and besides Dr. Kirk and the clerk there is a native interpreter, who writes the Arabic letters That is all the establishment. 295. Are there any Indian subjects, or English protected subjects, who hold slaves ?—None but the Britisb. protected subjects, the Kutchees. 296. Those do?—Yes, many of them do. In General Eigby’s time, when he was political agent at Zanzibar, he deprived the ’whole of the Kutchees, and every Indian subject, of the slaves they held, but he was succeeded by Colonel Pelly and Colonel Playfair, who made a difference between British protected and British subjects. They represented their man ner of thinking to the Government of Bombay, and the Government adopted their views ; since that time the Kutchees have been enabled to buy slaves, having placed themselves under the pro tection of the Sultan of Zanzibar ; they abstained from inscribing their names in our register, and abandoned our protection altogetlier ; then of course they were allowed to hold slaves; in fact they were told that they would enjoy the same privileges as the Arabs themselves, and the Sultan laid great stress upon the letters he had received from Colonel Playfair upon the subject, and insisted, in a correspondence with me, when I protested against their holding slaves, that they had a right to do so, in consequence of those letters. 297. With reference to the protection of the slaves which are set free by the operation of the cruisers, and in other ways, what means are taken for their protection? — With the exception of those -who have been landed for the missions—a very small number, I do not think it is more than 20 or 30 altogether—none have been landed lately at Zanzibar, in fact none have ever been landed there ; but when General Eigby liberated about 4,000 slaves, he gave them papers of free dom, and made certain arrangements with their former masters to buy them small estates on which they were placed, by which means they managed to live, and I have never heard of any of them becoming slaves again; some may have been kidnapped, because it is a matter of every day occurrence ; the Sultan himself loses his own slaves sometimes, when the northern Arabs come down from Arabia, who do not ask who the slave belongs to, but just take possession of him and carry him off, so that some of the slaves that were liberated in Zanzibar may have been kidnapped ; there would be no protection against that, but I look upon it a- an evil you must put up with ; I do not think it would be carried to any great extent. 298 What are the last accounts you have had from Zanzibar as to the slave trade ?—They are very bad ; from a private letter I have received, I learn that the slave trade had increased in activity; the policy of Seyd Burgash towards the British agency had also altered ; he was at first rather frightened at the attitude of the agency towards him; he did not know exactly what the British Government might do, and he was particularly anxious to please ; but after- wards, seeing that nothing came of the insolent language he had held immediately after his acces sion, he changed about again, and became aS insolent as ever ; as far as the slave trade is con cerned, I believe he has not changed bis views. 299. What course would you recommend to be adopted to put a stop to the increase in the slave

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