22
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE
Mr.
Churchill.
13
1871*
flourishing, were on their second visit quite abandoned
and destroyed ; in fact, the whole place
had been reduced to a state of desolation.
288. \ ou would not think the statement exaggerated,
perhaps, that for every slave brought
to Zanzibar there is a loss of four or five additional
lives ?—No, I think it is not exaggerated ;
they are better taken care of, of course, after
they reach Zanzibar ; there, they become comparatively
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 presume,
are, first, the general political relations,
and, secondly, the protection of such British subjects
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 punishment
the criminal would have to go to Bombay.
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 Zanzibar
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 practice,
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 manner
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 protection
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 freedom,
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 afterwards,
seeing that nothing came of the insolent
language he had held immediately after his accession,
he changed about again, and became aS
insolent as ever ; as far as the slave trade is concerned,
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
