33
ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OE AFRICAX
that when Colonel Hanierton first went to
^^anzibar, lie was very mncli surprised to find that
slave trade had already acquired such dim en-^^orig
as he observed ; but at that time the slave
^ Atle was very much less, and on a very much
^ aller scale than it is now. The Arabs in the
^^ighbourhood of the Persian Gulf, and on the
are naturally a very active maritime peoth^'
I'l’obably a century and a half, before
Ver of this century, they had been
bu/ fpirates, not only on their own coast,
down the coast of Africa, and along the
ast of India, as far as Singapore, certainly,
■svl fbat one of the hereditary modes in
^ they employed the maritime energy of the
eb/T that time piracy. That was
olfi. almost supressed by our naval
tr then the pirates turned to the slave
of^tf ’ d'bere can be no doubt that a great many
people, and the vessels, and the firm's
atif? engaged in slaving, are the sons
Sel - ^^"dsons of those who used to devote themti-a'l^^
to piracy. I have no doubt, if the slave
Peo^^i stopped, you tvould find these same
Avl devote themselves with equal energv to
lat^’We should call legitimate commerce.
dT. Do you recollect ])retty nearly the date
pt>löuel Ilamerton went to Zanzibar?—I
it was about 1837 or 1838.
Clui 'i í you heard a portion of Mr.
big . di’s evidence, and probably you have read
»Uv^T^^^ncc given on the former day : have you
®'^^‘^i’bs_to make on that evidence?—I have
that ^'dth regard to the facts of the case
a^n Churchill's evidence is very full, and
^ entirely disagree with the
sG *^^08 he proposes for putting a stop to the
Cyp ^ ti'^de. It appears to me that the cardinal
tion pdch you have to deal with, is the oscillaabo
e opinions in the matter. Up to
tbo time when Lord Palmerston died,
Parti^^^”-^ years, the general opinion of all
deter • had been in favour of a
'viler ^ .stop to the slave trade
could possibly do so without in-'vlw^^^
^''pbts of other nations, and the
bee^^ " eight of the Government influence had
on the side of suppressing the slave
that ot late years it has been manifest
of Q 'Ore has been very considerable wavering
of ‘ own opinions upon the subject. Many
who were most active in promoting
in bor the suppression of the slave trade
have thought, perhaps, that the
oflbet done ; and because the work was
p carried out on the M est Coast of
anq ^ "'ey have ratlier relaxed their efforts,
of ^ ^9 ®ces in public writings a good deal
fai^n. 'od of excuse for slavery, which ccr-"
Oarg ^'ould not have been put forward some
binq and would not have met with any
^Oenig f Public favour and acceptance. That
"e b^ ^ '"c to be the cardinal evil with which
contend, and our Government, reyoarg
public opinion, ajipears to me of late
^'fitter been very half-hearted in the
^0 be P -*- be first thing to be done seems to me
''■bat L ^ up cur own minds with regard to
^^''Uegf (^cue, and whether we really are in
449 ^ 'VC were 25 or 30 years ago.
allowing upon that would naturally
^'ciilq question, what measure you yourself
Ule sla,_^?™cnd for adoption in order to stop
b-Ue ^viide on the East Coast of Africa?—
I should begin by saying that I do not agree
with the opinion that Mr. Churchill has expressed,
when he says that the Arabs do not understand
forbearance. Ibelievethat, likcallotherstrono'-handed
nations, at least those with whom I have
had to deal, they understand real forbearance
w len they know it is forbearance, and
not weakness ; they understand it better
than^ we do ourselves, perhaps, and they
certainly do understand justice and tlieir own interests.
_ Our first business is to interest them
on our side, and to carry their opinion with us,
and to let them know what wo wish, and what
we want, and what we think would be for their
interest. As far as I have over seen those people,
and people of the same kind, they would be
very apt to respond to that by taking'oiir advice
and being a good deal guided bv mir wishes in
the matter. That has certainly'been the case
Avith regard to the suppression of piracy, and in
man A other things in Avhich their own interests
Avere A ery mucli concerned. When they once
understood Avhat Ave Avanted and Avhat Ave Avished,
and Avhy we wanted it, and why ive wished it,
^ey have been very ready to come into our views.
Ihey are not acted upon by fears in the Avay that
weaker nations are, but when they have once
made up their minds they are all on that account
the more to be trusted. There Avere some other
points connected with Mr. Churchill’s plans with
winch 1 could not agree. I do not think that we
have the slightest right to interfere Avith the internal
taxation of Zanzibar ; Ave must leave them
to tax CA ei’A body avIio lives under their rule very
much in the way they think best. For the good
..OAvn exchequer they Avould ahvays be
Avilling in the long run, quite as willing as we
are, to give due weight to our arguments in the
inattei ; and I think throughout all our dealings
with them we ought to recollect how long it took
m our own country to put an end to'slavery.
There are people noAv alive avIio can recollect
domestic slavery in English homes ; it has been
seen in a very recent generation in England itself,
1 been by. persistent argument
and effitrts that aa’c hai e arriv ed at our jiresent
state of public and private morality on the
subject. We ought to consider that the Arabs
cannot be expected to be very much more rapid
in the moA cment of public opinion among them
than wc are among ourselves. I would say that
the best measures for putting a stop to slkveiy,
as tar as I can judge, on that coast, are those
shadoAved out in the opinion gii en by Sir George
Clerk’s government, quoted at Question 245, of
Sir John Kaye’s CA'idenoe. That Avas given in
Lord_ Canning’s time, and I think had Lord
Canning’s complete assent. I need not mention
that Lord Canning’s feelings were very much
interested in the work of putting a stop to'slavery,
and that his Avhole opinion was in favour of doing
all that could be done to put an early stop to this
branch of the slave trade.
f'^^’1that, as a matter of explanation,
I should say the CA idence given by Mr. Churchill
Avith regard to Avhat you call interfering Avith
the internal arrangements of Zanzibar arose from
the fact that a portion of the treaty already made
had not been carried out by the Sultan ; is not
that so ?—I would rigidly enforce the treaty as
far as it is fairly enforceable, but I Avould not
attempt to carry treaties out by cutting off any
source of revenue that is in itself a reasonable
source of revenue, and to levy which does not
interfere
Sir B. Frei't
G.C.S.I.,
g.c.b,
17 July
1871.
