ON SLAVE TEADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA).
155
the government of his Arabian possessions, provision being made for certain of his sons as
governors of certain places in liis Arabian possessions; and that the Prince Majeed, whom
his Highness considered in the place of his deceased son Khaled, should succeed to the
government of his African possessions, provision being made for others of his sons as
governors of various places in his African possessions,” *
8. No written statement of the late Syud Saeed’s wishes regarding the succession, as
mentioned by Colonel Hamerton, has ever been found ; and the only will hitherto forthcoming,
as executed by his Highness, makes no provision whatever of that nature, but is
confined almost exclusively to the disposal of his personal property.f Colonel Rigby,
however, confirms Colonel Hamerton’s statements regarding the promotion of Syud
Majeed to the post which had become vacant by the death of his elder brother Khaled, in
these words: “The Prince Khaled was installed as ruler of the African dominions during
his father’s absence at Muscat; and on his death, which occurred on the 7th November
1854, his Highness passed over two of his sons, and appointed his fourth son Prince Majeed
to succeed his deceased brother in the government of the African dominions ; and it was
proclaimed to all the chief Arabs in open durbar that he was to be regarded exactly in
the same position as Prince Khaled had held, and that he had succeeded to all his rights,
and the future sovereignty of Zanzibar and the African dominions. The Prince Majeed
thus continued to administer the government, acknowledged by all as the rightful heir to
the sovereignty, by virtue of his father’s act, as publicly proclaimed.$
9. It does not appear, however, that this substitution of Syud Majeed in the place of
Syud Khaled was ever officially notified by liis Highness Syud Saeed, either to the
British or to any other foreign Governments in alliance with him ; § and Syud Majeed was
unable to produce any native records attesting the arrangement as the act of the late
sovereign. But the death of the latter was communicated by his Highness to Great
Britain, France, and the United States of America; and letters of condolence were
received by him in return from Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, from Her
Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, from His Imperial Majesty
the Emperor of the French, and from the President of the United States. || The two
former contain no recognition of Syud Majeed’s sovereignty ; but in the reply of the
Emperor of the French, and in that of the President of the United States, his Highness
is congratulated on his accession to “ the supreme power,” and to “ the throne of the
sultanry.” As no special mention, however, is made either of Muscat or Zanzibar in these
documents, and Syud Thoweynee’s position and claims are entirely overlooked, it is highly
probable that the two above-named Governments were unacquainted with the actual state
of the case, and wrote under the impression that Syud Majeed was the sole, rightful, and
acknowledged successor to the sovereignty of all the dominions of liis deceased father,
Syud Saeed.
10. The foregoing is a fair statement of the facts adduced from extraneous
sources in support of Syud Majeed’s right to the sovereignty of Zanzibar and its African
dependencies. His Highness himself rests his pretensions on similar grounds,^ namely,
on the fact that, when his elder brother Khaled died, Syud Saeed appointed him Governor
of Zanzibar in his stead, and notified the same to all the chiefs of Africa, as well as to the
foreign consuls residing at Zanzibar ; that he was duly recognised as such by them, and
that he had occupied that position two years prior to the death of his father, which event
occurred while on a voyage from Muscat to Zanzibar in 1856. His Highness then proceeds
to establish his claim to the sovereignty of Zanzibar em the ground of his having been
elected thereto by the people. He writes, “ When I heard the report of my father’s
death, I called together my brothers and family (only those, of course, who were present
at Zanzibar at the time), and all the people in these parts from l ink (Delgado) to Marbat,
in order that they might recognise me. To this they all 'agreed, and they accordingly
elected me to be ruler over them, and entrusted me with the direction of their affairs.”
He moreover considers that his sovereignty over Zanzibar and its African dependencies
has already been acknowledged by the representatives of the different foreign powers who
were in alliance with the late Syud Saeed, and he alleges that a similar recognition was
virtually made by his brother Syud Thoweynee through his agent Mahomed bin Salem,
who, on the death of their father, was sent from Muscat by the former fully empowered
to treat with Syud Majeed on his behalf. The yearly grant which on that occasion he
agreed to remit to his brother Thoweynee, Syud Majeed maintains was a purely friendly
subsidy, and by no means a tribute recognising in any way the suzerainty of his brother
Syud Thoweynee of Muscat.**
11. Unfortunately no documentary proofs are forthcoming to decide the important
question involved in the above transaction.^Syud Thoweynee contends that the grant
was given and received as tribute, and the two brothers (who nevertheless now join in
representing Mahomed bin Salem as a villain) confidently appeal to his statements formerlymade
in support of their opposite assertions. My original impression therefore is confirmed,
namely, that the agent, for his own private ends, deceived both parties, accepting
the yearly grant at Zanzibar as a fraternal gift from Majeed to Thoweynee, and representing
to the latter at Muscat that he had stipulated for it as a tribute involving the recognition
by his brother of his suzerainty over Zanzibar and its African dependencies.;!; j: Two documents,
however, indirectly bearing on this point, are attached in the Appendix.§§ The
first is a letter from Mahomed bin Salem at Muscat to Luddah, the customs master at
0.116 U 2 Zanzibar,
Appendix, No. 8.
* Letter from Colonel
Rigby, No. 19 of
1859.
f Muscat Report,
Appendix C.
f Colonel Rigby’s
letter, No. 4(j of
1859.
§ Appendix B, reply
to Query 6.
li Appendices C, D,
E. F.
Appendix L.
** Appendix L,
paragraphs 2 and 5.
ft Appendix B.
ff Muscat Report,
paragraph 42.
§§ Appendices G and
11.
