ox SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA).
35
^oing on at the outports. The want of siicli
is one of the great defects of our preût
system, because our consuls are really del^ndent
on those who are interested in keeping up
j ^^i^ers as they are. The fourth point is this :
think more attention should be paid to the
lews of our naval officers with regard to efficient
jH^adrons. I think that taking officers like Sir
Heath, and the present Admiral on the
ation, every deference should be paid to their
^pinions with regard to the kind and strength of
^hUadron which they really require to enable
^ to do their duty on that coast. At present
t^eal of the duty is done by open boats
ith a young officer, very often only a midship-W
* board, and those boats are out for weeks
to^®^ber, ^ I believe I might say for months
j^^^^ber, in the most exposed positions, with really
the means that are requisite to effect the
Un tbr which they are employed ; they make
liu L their energy and dash for their want of
’ffber and want of power, but still there can be
doubt that if, instead of those small open
p^ts, you had a kind of small steam gunboat
t ihapg^ but, at all events, steamboats capable of
boing hu^Q very shallow water, and also capable of
ivh' head against the very strong currents
dich run along that coast, and are one of the
difficulties of the navigation, you would
tual ^ y cur naval officers to put an effecth
^top to the traffic much more rapidly
als^ they can at present. They ought
PQ^to be enabled to watch the northern Arabian
Ro * themselves much better than they are
®Rffi .^^^tehed. The number of ships is not
to watch the northern ports, and to
- " after the slave dhows after they get away
tK ^ immediate African coast. ï believe
^ Rt there are some restrictions under which they
f ^ith respect to a three-mile limit from the
Rie^f’ Vow, if we get the Sultan’s Govern-^
^ud the Imaum of Muscat’s Government
bou entirely, and act, as I think we are
tc act in those seas, rather in supplement-.®ir
defects, than in superceding their
of and if we make use, as far as possible,
get authority, I think we should be able to
bnii/^ • ^ great many of those Inconvenient
ORr which vei’v much harass and impede
bbc officers. There should be much more
tbç^^by in the way of efficient interpreters, and
bill ^duiiral on the station, I think, should have
hi0.1 Pcwer to employ interpreters of a much
a stamp than those usually furnished. Then
ho .jb) and very important point, seems to me to
host ^ J^^’^Hsion of lines of communication, and
thÍRi steamers, along all those coasts. I
alro Iras been very strongly recommended
of and I would merely mention that none
to objections that have been started appear
to^ ® be of any validity, as opposed to a sys-Rnq^
subsidies for limited periods, such as that
tor^qA ’'vhich the Indian Government has ex-^RRo-
lines of steam communication from
are ce Ib^ Euphrates. Such subsidies
bortio^^^^^ to be brought every year, at least some
^ovej.^ them, under the supervision of the
tually the Government is perpeare
^ reminded by rival companies if they
for. ^ mpre than the service can be done
is think if a just medium is struck of what
supporting ; but I would always keep a certain
subsidy payable to them, in order to give the
Government the power of enforcing regularity
of departure. For, viewed merely as part of
the anti-slavery machinery, regularity of departure
is a very important point, because it at once
marks those who are in the service of the Government;
and though, like the regularity of
the policemen on their beat, it may tempt evildoers
to try to evade the officers of the Government,
still if the officers of the Government are
on the watch, it also enables them to catch evildoers
when they attempt to pass unseen. Then,
steam communication, if it were fully developed,
as I believe it would speedily be, by natural commercial
causes on that coast, would, I have no
doubt, lead to a good deal of natural emigration
from one point to another, and where there was
surplus labour you would find that people would
not be afraid to transfer their labour to other
parts Avhere it is wanted. This would again
strike at one of the roots of the evil, because there
can be no doubt that the attempt to enslave
people and carry them off as slaves, is one of
the irregular remedies for an irregular distribution
of labour over the surface of the Mobe.
The sixth remedy is one that has alreadv
been very fully discussed in the evidence that
the Committee has heard, namely, a colony
for liberated slaves on the mainland. On that
point I have only to add to what I find on the
evidence, that I think care should be taken not
to make it, if A\ e can possibly avoid it, an English
colony, but to make it a colony of English people,
living under the flag of the Sultan, under
his protection, and under his guarantee, and
watched over by English officials. That would
get rid of a good many difficulties in the way of
founding fresh colonies ; and it Avould also insure
the great object of all, namely, the Sultan being
carried ivith us, and the native local authorities
being carried Avitli us in all that ive do. I think
that free use should be made of the establishments
which the Churcli Missionary Society, and other
missionary societies, and some of the French
Roman Catholic Missions have on those coasts.
They are very willing to co-operate, and to take
a great part of the labour off the hands of the
Government; and I think every use should be
made of them in the n ay of head money, paid not
in the very stinted and niggardly way in which
it has been paid of late years, but paid very much
in the Avay in which it was done at the time lA hen
the slaA'e trade Avas suppressed on > the West
Coast of Africa. AboA e all, there is the necessity
for a very able and Avell-selected consul
being appointed, avIio Avill not only strongly press
on the Sultan all that the English Government
wishes in the matter, but Avill really be to him a
support; such as the Imaum of Muscat, and
others in his position, and the Sultan of Zanzibar
have alAA^ays found the political officers AA ho
haA^e come up to the mark of real efficiency
in the service. Lastly, it appeared to me that as
the subject had a good deal changed its position
since it AA as last under the rcA’icAv of Her Majesty’s
Government here, and the Government of
India in Lord Canning’s time, it Avould be verA"
desirable to place this matter in the hands of a
person Avho Avould go both to Muscat and to
Zanzibar, specially charged by the Government
^ -- -- of India, or Her Majesty’s Government, as the
khad +r commercial body to start lines of the case might be, but in the confidence of them
O.iifi ^ would very soon proA'e almost self- both, Avell acquainted Avith what lengths he
E 2 misrht
Tdficient, and not more than sufficient to
?9^ble
Sir B. Frere,
K.C.S.T.,
K.C.B.
17 July .
1871.
