;

99

ON  SLAVE  TRADE  (EAST  COAST  OF  AFRICA).

forth  by  sea  alone  the  importation  and  exportation  of  negroes  into  the  Persian  dominions  is
entirely  forbidden,  but  not  by  land.  Not  a  single  individual  will  be  permitted  to  bring
negroes  by  sea  without  being  subjected  to  severe  punishment.
That  high  in  rank  must  in  this  matter  give  peremptory  orders  throughout  his  Government, ­
  and  not  be  remiss.
Written  in  the  month  of  Rejjeb  1264.  June  1848.
Meerza  Nebbee  Khan.  The  Shah.

Convention  for  the  Detention  and  Search  of  Persian  Vessels  by  British  and  East  India
Company’s  Cruisers.
(Translation.)
Shevval  1267  (August  1851).
The  Persian  Government  agrees  that  the  ships  of  war  of  the  British  Government  and  of
the  East  India  Company  shall,  in  order  to  prevent  the  chance  of  negro  slaves,  male  and
female,  being  imported,  be  permitted,  for  the  period  of  11  years,  to  search  Persian  merchant ­
  vessels,  in  the  manner  detailed  in  this  document,  with  the  exception  of  Persian
Government  vessels,  not  being  vessels  the  propeity  of  meicbants  or  the  property  of  Persian
subjects;  with  those  Government  vessels  there  is  tobe  no  interference  whatsoever.  The
Persian  Govern  rent  agrees  that  in  no  manner  whatever  shall  any  negro  slave  be  imported
in  the  vessels  e  ,  tOe  Persian  Government.
The  agreement  is  this  :
I.  That  in  giving  this  permission  to  search  mercantile  vessels  and  those  of  subjects,  the
search  shall,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  be  effected  with  the  co-operation,  intervention,  and
knowledge  of  Persian  officers,  who  are  to  be  on  board  vessels  of  the  English  Government. ­

II.  The  merchant  vessels  shall  not  be  detained  longer  than  is  necessary  to  effect  ihe
seanh  for  slaves.  If  slaves  should  be  found  in  any  of  those  vessels,  the  British  authorities
are  to  take  possession  of  them  and  carry  them  away,  without  detaining  or  causing  them  (that
is,  the  people  of  the  ship  importing  slaves)  any  other  damage  besides  that  of  depriving  them
of  the  slaves.  The  vessel  itself  (in  which  the  slaves  have  been  imported)  shall,  by  the
co-operation  and  knowledge  of  the  officers  of  the  Persian  Government  who  are  on  board
of  the  British  cruisers,  be  delivered  to  the  authorities  of  the  Persian  ports,  who  are  there
on  the  part  of  the  Persian  Government,  and  the  authorities  of  this  (the  Persian)  Government ­
  are  to  punish  and  fine  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  crime  he  has  committed,  the  owner
of  that  slaving  vessel  who  has  acted  in  contravention  of  the  commands  of  his  Majesty  the
King  cf  Persia,  by  importing  slaves.
The  British  ships  of  war  are  not  in  any  manner  to  interfere  with  the  Persian  trading
vessels,  without  the  co-operatiou  of  the  Persian  Government  officers  :  but  the  Persian
Government  officers  also  must  not,  on  their  part,  be  remiss  in  the  duty  committed  to
them.
This  convention  is  to  be  in  force  for  a  period  of  11  years,  and  after  these  11  years  have
expired  and  the  stipulated  period  has  elapsed,  if  the  Persian  vessels  shall  be  interfered  with
for  even  a  single  day  beyond  the  11  years,  it  will  be  opposed  to  the  course  of  friendship
with  the  Persian  Government  and  to  the  maintenance  of  her  rights,  and  this  Government
will  make  a  demand  for  satisfaction.
III.  If  the  slaves  who  have  been  heretofore  in  Persia,  and  are  now  there,  should  from
the  present  date  and  henceforward  wish  to  proceed  by  sea  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  or  to
India,  or  travel  by  sea,  they  must,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  British  liesident  in  Bushire,
piocute  a  passport  from  the  officer  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  passport  office  in  Bushire,
and  no  exceptions  shall  thereafter  be  taken  to  any  slave  holding  a  passport.  The  pas?^port
(regulation)  obtained  with  the  knowledge  of  the  British  sident  at  Bushire,  is,  like  the
other  stipulations  written  above,  to  be  for  a  period  of  11  years.
This  agreement  of  [the  right  of]  search,  and  the  appointment  of  the  Persian  Government ­
  officers  (to  be  on  board  the  British  cruisers)  will  first  come  in  force  on  the  1st  of
Rebbee-ool-evvel,  1268  =  1  January  1852.
From  the  date  of  this  document  to  the  above  date,  there  is  no  right  of  search.
The  articles  written  in  this  document  have,  from  first  to  last,  been  agreed  to  by  both
parties,  and  confirmed  by  the  Ministers  of  both  Governments,  and  nothing  is  to  be  done  in
contravention  thereof.
Written  in  the  month  of  Shevval  1267  (August  1851).
Justin  Shell,
Her  Britannic  Majesty’s  Minister  Plenipotentiary  and
Envoy  Extraordinary  at  the  Court  of  Persia.
Meerza  'Tehkee  Khan,
Ameer-i-Nizara  of  the  Persian  Government.

N  2

Appendix,  No.  4.

0.116.