ON  SLAVE  TRADE  (EAST  COAST  OF  AFRICA).

IX

Zanzibar,  and  this,  therefore,  i?  the  extent  of  the  legalised  trade,  and  the  value
to  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  at  the  present  rate  of  tax  would  not  exceed  4,000  /.
annually
Your  Committee,  however,  do  not  believe  that  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar
would  be  ultimately  a  loser  by  the  abolition  of  the  trade  ;  on  the  contrary,  it
was  given  in  evidence  that  already  the  revenues  of  the  Sultan,  derived  from  the
rapidly  increasing  trade  of  Zanzibar,  and  from  his  private  estates  in  India  are
ample  to  maintain  the  Government  of  his  State,  independently  of  the  sum
received  from  the  slave  trade  ;  while  the  witnesses  generally  concur  in  stating
that  were  the  slave  trade  abolished,  and  a  more  ready  means  of  communication
afforded  between  Bombay,  Aden,  and  Zanzibar,  the  already  flourishing  trade  of
that  State  would  be  rapidly  developed.  Material  assistance  to  this  development
might  be  afforded  by  a  line  of  mail  steamers  to  Zanzibar.  Should  the  Sultan
be  willing  to  enter  into  a  new  treaty,  the  Committee  recommend  that  it  contain
provisions  for  the  entire  abandonment  of  the  slave  trade,  the  closing  of  the
Zanzibar  and  Kilwa  slave  markets,  the  punishment  of  any  of  the  subjects  of
Zanzibar  in  any  w  ay  engaged  in  the  slave  trade,  permission  to  the  British  Government ­
  to  station  Vice  Consuls  at  Kilwa,  Dar  Selam,  and  Lamoo  ;  and  on  the  part
of  the  British  Government  an  agreement  to  settle,  under  full  and  stringent
measures  for  their  protection,  a  certain  number  of  negroes  released  from  slavery
by  Her  Majesty’s  cruisers.
The  Committee  concur  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  witnesses  as  to
the  necessity  of  an  increase  in  the  consular  establishment  ;  and  inasmuch  as  the
staff  of  that  establishment  would  he  largely  employed  in  the  suppression  of  the
slave  trade,  they  think  that  the  expense  should  be  equally  shared  by  the  Indian
and  Imperial  Government.
The  Committee  are  of  opinion  that  there  should  be  for  a  time  an  increase,
as  recommended  in  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Slave  Trade,  addressed
to  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  as  well  as  by  the  evidence  of  the  naval  officers,  in  the
strength  of  the  naval  squadron  ;  and  that  it  should  be  well  supplied  with  steam
launches  to  perform  the  inshore  duties,  which  necessarily  must  be  conducted  in
boats.
The  Committee  feel  that  the  disposal  of  the  squadron  must  be  left  to  the
discretion  of  the  commanding  officers,  and  they  would  recommend  that  advantage
should  be  taken  of  their  experience  as  to  the  class  of  vessels  to  be  employed  ;  and
that  they  should  be  provided,  as  far  as  possible,  with  all  recorded  information  on
the  subject.
The  Committee  also  recommend  that  some  effort  be  made  to  provide  the
squadron  with  efficient  and  trustworthy  interpreters.
It  has  been  stated  in  evidence,  that  some  time  must  elapse  after  the  measures
above  referred  to  have  been  put  in  force  before  the  slave  trade  could  be  stopped  ;
and  assuming  that  an  efficient  squadron  is  maintained,  the  Committee  see  that
the  disposal  of  the  liberated  slaves  becomes  a  matter  of  large  importance.  They
have  recommended  the  liberation  at  Zanzibar  of  adult  slaves  on  the  assumption ­
  that  the  Sidtan  would  enter  into  a  new  treaty  ;  should  he,  however,  oppose
the  formation  of  a  depot  there,  it  will  be  necessary  to  seek  some  other  locality  for
that  purpose,  and  no  other  place  combines  the  advantages  possessed  by  the
Seychelles  Islands.
It  was  given  in  evidence  that  the  Church  Missionary  Society  are  willing
to  enter  into  an  arrangement  for  the  superintendence  and  education  of  the  children
at  the  Seychelles,  similar  to  that  entered  into  with  the  Government  with  respect
to  liberated  children  at  Sierra  Leone,  the  Mauritius,  and  at  Nassuck  in  Bombay.
In  urging  the  necessity  of  retaining  in  this  service  trained  and  experienced
men,^  the  Committee  consider  that  this  principle  most  strongly  applies  to  the
Political  Agency  at  Zanzibar.  So  complicated  are  our  political  relations  at  present ­
  with  the  Sultan,  and  so  difficult  will  be  the  task  of  dealing  with  him,  that
they  do  not  hesitate  to  advise  that  the  services  should  be  retained  of  the  present
acting  Political  Agent,  bearing  in  mind  his  long  and  tried  experience  of  Africa,
its  climate,  its  slave-trade  difficulties,  his  knowledge  of  the  Sultan,  and  his  acti-420.
  b  vity