"أوراق تتعلق بتجارة الرقيق على الساحل الشرقي لأفريقيا والنظام المتبع لكبحها" [ظ‎‎٤‎٢] (٧٢/٢٤)

24
No. 26.
Her Majesty to the Sultan of Zanzibar.
VICTORIA, by the grace of God, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to His Highness Majid, son of Said, Sultan of
Zanzibar, our most distioguished and beloved friend, sendeth greeting.
We have received the letter which you addressed to us by your Highness* Envoy
Mohammed, son of Salim, the son of your paternal uncle; and now that he is about to
take his departure from our Court in order to return to your presence, we write to express
the pleasure which it has afforded us to receive tidings of your health and welfare.
With regard to the special matters which more particularly formed the object of the
Mission of your Highness relative to this country, we desire you to be assured that from
the goodwill which we entertain towards you, our disposition is to view with favour the
wishes of your Highness, so far as they are consistent with engagements which we have
already contracted. In proof of our sincere regard for your Highness, we have ordered a
sword to be prepared which we request you to accept as a mark of our friendship; and
with our earnest wishes for the long continuance of your life and happiness, we recommend
you to the protection of the Almighty.
Given at our Court at Windsor Castle, the 15th day of December, in the year of our
Lord, 1868, and in the thirty-second year of our reign.
Your affectionate Friend,
(Signed) VICTORIA R.
(Countersigned) C lakendon.
No. 27.
The Earl of Clarendon to the Sultan of Zanzibar.
Foreign Office, December 15, 1868.
THE Undersigned has the honour to acquaint your Highness that on entering upon
the duties of Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs he was informed
by his predecessor, Lord Stanley, that, from circumstances beyond his control, he had
been prevented from giving that attention to the wishes of your Highness regarding the
matters which, in your Highness' letter to Lord Stanley, you had stated that you had
commissioned your Envoy to explain to him, as under other circumstances he would most
assuredly have given.
It was a great pleasure to the Undersigned, a few days after his appointment to the
office which he now holds, to receive the Envoy of your Highness, and to assure him of
the goodwill which was entertained towards your Highness by the Queen, his Sovereign,
and by Her Majesty's Government, and to explain to him the regret that the Queen felt
at not having been able to grant him an audience to receive from his hands the letter
which your Highness had charged him to deliver to Her Majesty, and to express to him
verbally what Her Majesty has now expressed in the letter which your Envoy will deliver
to you, the great regard which Her Majesty entertains for your Highness.
The early departure of your Highness' Envoy from this country will prevent the
Undersigned from discussing with him the questions which he was charged to bring before
the British Government; but the Undersigned assures your Highness that full considera
tion will be given to those questions, with the nature of which Her Majesty's Government
are well acquainted : and that Her Majesty's Government have every desire to view with
favour the wishes of your Highness, so far as a compliance with them may be made
consistent with any engagements which they may have heretofore contracted.
The Undersigned, &c. (Signed) CLARENDON.
No. 28.
The Earl of Clarendon to the Envoy of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
Sir, Foreign Office, December 15, 1868.
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith a letter from the Queen to the
Sultan, together with another from myself to His Highness, in reply to the letters of w 7 hich
your Excellency was the bearer.