VIH

REPORT  FROM  THE  SELECT  COMMITTEE

into  foreign  bottoms  from  the  want  of  any  regular  postal  communication  with
Zanzibar  ;  the  mails  lying  sometimes  at  Seychelles  for  months  together  waiting
for  a  chance  vessel.  It  has  been  stated  to  them  that  a  very  small  subsidy  would
suffice  to  start  monthly  steam  communication,  either  with  the  Seychelles,  distant
about  800  miles,  in  correspondence  with  French  steamers  running  from  Aden,
or  from  the  latter  port  direct.
Your  Committee  having  heard  the  evidence,  are  strongly  of  opinion  that
all  legitimate  means  should  be  used  to  put  an  end  altogether  to  the  East  African
slave  trade.
They  believe  that  any  attempt  to  supply  slaves  for  domestic  use  in
Zanzibar,  will  always  be  a  pretext  and  cloak  for  a  foreign  trade,  while  the  loss
of  life  and  the  injuiy  caused  to  maintain  even  the  limited  supply  of  slaves  required ­
  for  this  purpose,  must  of  necessity  be  so  great  as  to  forbid  this  country
continuing  to  recognise  any  such  traffic  in  slaves.
It  has  been  stated  by  some  of  the  witnesses,  that  should  the  Sultan  consent ­
  to  relinquish  the  slave  trade  a  revolution  would  follow,  and  that  a  sudden
stoppage  of  the  importation  of  slaves  into  Zanzibar  would  seriously  affect  the
industrial  position  of  the  island  ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  a  witness  of  great
experience  has  given  it  in  evidence,  that  the  Zanzibar  Arabs  are  fully  aware  that
the  trade  will  be  stopped,  and  are  beginning  to  understand  that  more  profit  can
be  made  by  retaining  the  labourers  to  cultivate  their  own  country,  than  by  selling
them  away  as  slaves,  while  the  abolition  of  the  trade  would  encourage  free
labourers  from  all  parts  to  reside  at  Zanzibar,  so  ensuring  a  larger  and.  better
supply  of  labourers  than  exists  at  present.
It  appears  from  the  evidence,  that  the  parties  from  whom  serious  opposition ­
  may  be  expected  are  the  northern  Arabs,  but  the  presence  of  an  English
naval  force  at  Zanzibar  would  afford  sufficient  protection.
Your  Committee  therefore  recommend  that  it  be  notified  to  the  Sultan  of
Zanzibar,  that  the  existing  treaty  provisions  having  been  systematicallyevaded,  and
having  been  found  not  only  insufficient  to  protect  the  negro  tribes  in  the  interior
of  Africa  from  destruction,  but  rather  to  foster  and  encourage  the  foreign  trade
in  slaves.  Her  Majesty’s  Government,  unless  further  securities  can  be  obtained
for  the  entire  prohibition  of  the  foreign  slave  trade,  will  feel  itself  compelled  to
abrogate  the  treaty,  and  to  take  such  further  legitimate  measures  as  it  may  find
necessary  to  put  an  end  to  all  slave  trade  whatever,  whether  foreign  or  coasting.
Further,  that  should  the  Sultan  he  willing  to  enter  into  a  new  treaty,  having
for  its  object  the  entire  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  Her  Majesty’s  Government ­
  would  agree  to  settle  at  Zanzibar  a  propoi’tion  of  adult  negroes,  who  might
thereafter  be  captured  by  Her  Majesty's  cruisers,  provided  the  Sultan  aoreed  to
such  measures  for  their  protection  and  freedom  as  might  be  deemed  necessary..
It  has  l)een  represented  to  the  Committee  by  some  of  the  witnesses,  that
as  the  Sultan  derives  a  considerable  part  of  his  leveuues  from  the  slave  trade,  it
would  be  necessary  to  make  him  some  compensation  for  the  loss  he  would  sustain
by  the  abolition  of  the  trade.
It  appears  from  the  evidence,  that  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  levies  a  tax  of
two  dollars  upon  all  slaves  shipped  from  Kilwa  for  Zanzibar,  and  four  dollars
upon  those  shipped  for  Lamoo,  and  a  further  tax  of  two  dollars  upon  all  slaves
shipped  from  Zanzibar.  The  witnesses  have  estimated  the  proceeds  of  this  tax
at  various  amounts,  some  putting  it  as  high  as  15,000  1.  oi-  20,000  1.  ;  others  as
low  as  5,000/.  ;  but  whatever  the  amount  may  be,  the  prospect  of  compensation
has  been  suggested  in  the  négociations  for  a  new  treaty  with  the  Sultan,  already
alluded  to  in  this  Report.
It  has  been  suggested  that,  as  an  equivalent  for  the  supposed  loss  to  his
revenue,  the  Sultan  should  be  released  from  the  payment  of  an  annual  subsidy  of
40,000  crowns  to  the  Sultan  of  Muscat,  which  was  arranged  upon  the  partition
of  the  dominion  of  the  Imaum  of  Muscat,  between  his  two  sons,  by  the  Indian
Government  as  arbitrators  ;  but  it  now  appears  that  the  circumstances  under
which  it  was  supposed  this  release  might  be  effected  have  altered.
It  has  been  given  in  evidence  that  from  1,700  to  about  4,000  slaves  is
probably  sufficient  to  supply  the  requirements  of  the  island  and  dominions  of
Zanzibar