'Papers Respecting the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa and the System Pursued for its Suppression' [‎35r] (9/72)

subsidy used as heretofore, and the expression " untenable " had inadvertently no doubt
been translated into " false." I added that, if His Highness would write to me on the
subject, I should be happy to relieve his mind on these points, and show him that his
Excellency the Viceroy had no wish whatever to hurt His Highness' feelings, but that he
did not conceal from His Highness that he thought Seyd Majid's objections to pay the
subsidy futile and untenable, and had told him so in plain language; that he himself
must perceive how groundless were His Highness' arguments, and must regret as much as
I did that they had ever been put forward.
Shaikh Suliman confessed that they were futile, and told me, confidentially, that he
had failed, at the time, in urging the Sultan not to use them.
The important question was next asked as to what the Sultan should do ; to which I
unhesitatingly replied that His Highness had no alternative; that he had agreed to refer
the dispute between his late brother and himself to the arbitrament of the Governor-
General of India ; that an award had been made, which he had accepted, and which he was
bound to fulfil; that, on the death, or the murder, whichever it may be, of the Sultan of
Muscat, His Highness had conceived the idea that his engagements were at an end; but
that he was now clearly told by the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India that
he was mistaken, and that he must continue to pay the subsidy to the Treasury of Muscat,
and that, under such circumstances, he had no option but to obey.
6. The Sultan's Wuzeer said, in reply, that he would report my opinion to Seyd
Majid, but that he thought it very hard on the Sultan to be obliged to assist the murderer
of his brother by paying him a subsidy. "I will nevertheless," he added, "use my
influence to bring Seyd Majid to reply favourably to his Excellency the Governor-General's
letter, however much humiliation it may cost him to do so."
7. The next day I received a further visit from the Sultan's Secretary, and was
informed that, after much deliberation, His Highness had expressed his willingness to pay
the subsidy, but not to Salim. He w T ould do so indirectly through the medium of his
Excellency the Governor of Bombay, but that even this he did with the hope that his
Excellency the Governor-General would reconsider his decision and spare him the shame
that was being imposed upon him.
8 Taking into consideration the pending negotiations reported to you in my despatch
No. 310-59 connected with the subsidy in question and the Slave Trade, and the fact,
moreover, that in compelling Seyd Majid to pay this subsidy into the hands of Seyd Salim,
we should undoubtedly be making an enemy (though not, perhaps, an open one) of the
man who is most inclined to be our friend, and who can do more towards the suppression of
the trade we most abhor on this coast than any independent Prince.
9. I have concurred in Seyd Majid's propositions, and His Highness' Agent, Ludda
Damjee, of the house Jeiram Sewjee, has received instructions to pay the amount
of arrears due to the Treasury of Muscat to his Excellency the Governor of Bombay.
10. I may here be allowed to record a hope, and I do so sincerely, and I trust,
advisedly, that something may yet be done to encourage Seyd Majid in his efforts to
co-operate with us in the suppression of the Slave Trade, and to confide on the British
Government as his best friend and ally.
P.S.—I have the honour to transmit herewith inclosed letters addressed by Seyd Majid
to his Excellency the Governor-General of India and his Excellency the Governor of
Bombay, with their translations, and also the copy of a correspondence that has passed
Detween Sultan Majid and myself on this subject.
Inclosure 4 in No. 6.
The Sultan of Zanzibar to the Viceroy of India.
(Translation.) September 10, 1867.
YOUR letter dated the 22nd May reached us on the 6th Jemadi-ul-awul. In it your
Excellency informs us that we are bound to pay the 40,000 dollars in accordance with the
award of our honoured friend Lord Canning; had his Lordship, however, foreseen the
murder of Seyd Thoweynee by his own son Salim in order to usurp the throne of Muscat,
he would have decided otherwise.
We have now to inform your Excellency that we will obey the order of the English
Government and pay the subsidy, but we decline to pay it to the man who killed his own
father. We will not give him a single dollar, still less the sum of 40,000 dollars. To do
so would bring shame on us before the Arab nation and before the world, and would be a
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