ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA).
41
of the general government the care of
hose interests should be entrusted to.
514. In general, is not a divided control, such'
you propose, of the Indian and Foreign Office,
^^ther inexpedient ?—Certainly ; and if we could
^î'Ove at any other division which would not
Involve a divided control, I should say it would
® an improvement.
515. Mr. Crum-Ewini/.~\ It ou have stated that
Mu thought that the Sultan of Zanzibar would
h® satisfied with an acknowledgement of the
’500Z,, but that would only be a portion of the
^^Veuue that he obtains from the slave trade,
''hich has been put at 22,000 1. ; is not that so ?
^ou must, to some extent, bring him over to
yoiu- view, that this matter of slave trading is a
had one for him. I have no doubt that in time
could be brought to see it in that light ; at all
^^'cnts, I think he would be willing to make a
S^cat sacrifice to gain your good will.
516. 1 hat would involve a sacrifice of 13,000/.
14,000/., which is an important thing, is it
Mt?—I hardly think that it would involve as
hiUch as that, because he would certainly not
Mticipate our being able to stop it at once.
517. How many consuls would you think it
^"culd require on the coast?—I cannot say.
Churchill would give the Committee better
j^^rination on that point than I can. I should
j ® inclined to deal liberally in that matter, and
the consuls either have a European or native
\Ce-consul or consular agent, or whatever he
. ‘%ht ask for ; and then you would be able to
after a year or two, whether he was doing
My real good or not.
518. ]\Ir, jq 2^alhot.~\ There is an establishment
at Zanzibar for freed slaves, is there not ?
j^There is a very large French mission, which
^hes a few, I believe ; and there may be some
Mbsisting there; but there is no regular estahshment
for maintaining freed slaves, or em-V
eying them in any way.
519. Not connected with any European coun-—I
believe not.
520. Lord F. Cavendish.^ If we relieve the
of Zanzibar of the payment of the subsidy
^ the Imaum of Muscat, and if we made him
g ^dy wish to put down this trade, would the
^Itan of Zanzibar have the power to control the
^^}'tl)ern Arabs ?—I have no doubt he would,
'^mng backed by us. We do coerce them now
0.1 m'egard to their gradually, in defiance of his
j.mders, assembling a very considerable naval
^rn’ce at Zanzibar. As long as it is merely a
^ ^der between him and those with whom we •
^ Me no concern, our officers are unable to inmtere,
but they would make very short work of
n; Î miorthern Arabs if they were once allowed to
Wc should be forced to keep a email force
Avc. ^ mG coast in his support in that case, should
"«not?_Yes.
Would the Indian Government consider
p^.Mr that half this subsidy to Muscat should be
^av the Indian Eevenues ?—I can hardly
j Mat their view would be. The Government
fj, has altered its view very considerably
at 7 to time. Regarding its own interests
^Rzibar, in Lord Cannings time, they were
looked upon as very important ; but latterly they
have been looked upon, I think, without due reference
to the facts, as of less importance. The
The Government of India being also further removed
from the ports which trade with Zanzibar is
not, perhaps, so strongly impressed with the value
of the trade, and its capabilities of supplying the
Government of Bombay.
523. Is the East Coast of Africa an unhealthy
coast?—The lower parts, at the mouths of the
rivers, are, I believe, very unhealthy, but directly
you get through Deltas, and the low country on
the coast, you get to a country which has been
described to me as remarkably healthy ; you rise
up a kind of steppe into a table land, and you find
that is healthy.
524. IVith regard to the recommendation of
increasing our fleet off this coast, would the service
be an unhealthy one for the crews ? —I
should say not, because you wmuld not be much
in the River Deltas ; they would be mostly at sea,
which is not more unhealthy than the tropical
service at sea generally.
525. With regard to subsidising a line of
steamers, between what ports should such
steamers ply, do you think ?—I should say they
might diverge from Aden or Maculla, which is a
port between Muscat and Aden. They should
run down the coast as far south as there is any
English trade, and they should possibly include
in that tour some of the islands, such as
Seychelles, that communicate between Zanzibar
and the Seychelles Islands.
526. Have you any knowledge what kind of
subsidy the merchants would require to start such
a line of steamers; would it be 10,000/. or
50,000 /., or what ?—No ; I should say it would
not be very expensive. Besides there is known
to be a considerable trade, and I think they
would be content with a very short term, probably,
at first starting.
527. The high price of coals on that coast
would make the service an expensive one, would
it not ?—The coals would probably be supplied
direct from England. Vessels would go out
ballasted with coals, and return with cotton or
sugar or other produce as they now do.
528. You would have to go by the Suez Canal,
would you not?—They would join in with the
Suez line at Aden.
529. Chairman.'] In No. 65 of the Report
addressed to the Earl of Clarendon by the Committee
on the East African Slave Trade, there
is a suggestion with regard to freed slaves,
that “ the greatest care should be taken to jirovide
efficient protection for the freed slaves, and
to prevent their being ill-used by their employers,
or kidnapped by the slave-dealers. They should
be under the special protection of Her Majesty’s
Consul, although amenable to the laws of Zanzibar
; a register should be kept of them at the
British Consulate ; they should be provided with
printed certificates of freedom, and, as we have
already suggested, the Sultan should declare his
intention to punish severely any attempt to
molest them ;” should you concur in those recommendations
? — Those are exactly the kind of
regulations that I would propose.
Sir B. Fret e,
G.C.S.I.,
K C.B.
17 July
1871.
o-ue.
F
