"أوراق تتعلق بتجارة الرقيق على الساحل الشرقي لأفريقيا والنظام المتبع لكبحها" [و‎‎٤‎٣] (٧٢/٢٥)

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There will also be forwarded to your care, as soon as it can be prepared, for delivery
to the Sultan, a case containing a sword, which Her Majesty trusts His Highness will
accept as an evidence of her goodwill towards His Highness.
The Queen has desired me to express to you her regret that she was prevented from
receiving you at her Court, which Her Majesty much desired to do: and for myself, in
wishing you a prosperous voyage to your home, I must add my regret that the shortness
of your stay in this country, since my accession to office, has prevented me from having
the pleasure of seeing you more frequently at the Foreign Office.
I am, &c.
(Signed) CLARENDON.
No. 29.
Mr. Otway to Major-General Rigby.
Sir, Foreign Office^ December 16, 1868.
I AM directed by the Earl of Clarendon to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the llth instant, announcing the intention of Mohammed bin Salim, the Envoy to
Her Majesty from His Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar, to leave London on Friday next,
the 18th instant, on his Return to his own country, and expressing his Excellency's
disappointment at the reception he has met with from Her Majesty's Government.
I am, in reply, to request that you will express to the Envoy Lord Clarendon's
sincere regret that the temporary illness of his predecessor in office, and the unavoidable
interruption to business caused by the change of Government, should have prevented that
attention being paid to his Excellency, and to the objects of his Mission, which, under
ordinary circumstances, would certainly have been paid to the Representative of an old
and valued friend of Her Majesty's Government, who has on every occasion given proofs
of his friendship by the protection His Highness has afforded to British subjects.
You will also have the goodness to impress upon the Envoy that no disrespect was
intended from the fact that no notice was taken of His Highness' letter to the Queen, the
delay having been occasioned by circumstances beyond the control of Her Majesty's late
or present advisers.
I am, &c.
(Signed) A. J. OTWAY.
No. 30.
Mr. Otway to Mr. Merivale.
Sir, Foreign Office, December 17, 1868.
WITH reference to the letters addressed to the India Office from this Department on
the 20th of November and 3rd instant, I am directed by the Earl of Clarendon to transmit
to you in original, to be laid before the Secretary of State for India, to which Department
Lord Clarendon is of opinion that the communication should properly have been
addressed, the accompanying further despatch from Captain Atkinson, the Acting British
Political Agent and Consul at Muscat, containing information relative to the affairs of
that State, and the part taken by the Commander of Her Majesty's ship " Vigilant " during
the revolution in which the Sultan was deposed from power.
I am, &c.
(Signed) A. J. OTWAY.
No. 31.
Mr. Otway to Mr. Merivale.
Sir^ Foreign Office, December 29, 1868.
WITH reference to your letter of the 22nd of October last, I am directed by the Earl
of Clarendon to acquaint you that his Lordship sees no objection to the proceedings of the
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