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'Papers Respecting the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa and the System Pursued for its Suppression' [53r] (45/72)
The record is made up of 1 volume (34 folios). It was created in 29 Oct 1869. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
45
[341] N
your Highness' dominions by certain natives of India under your Highness' protection.
Your Highness has been pleased therein to protest against the adoption of such measures,
and I am informed that 1 am not to expect any co-operation from you in carrying out my
instructions, but that, on the contrary, you will be compelled to complain against me if I
persist in freeing the slaves of the natives of India under your protection.
Your Highness will allow me, in the first place, to express my deep regret that ten
days should have been allowed to pass without my being informed whether or no I could
count upon your Highness' assistance in fulfilling the instructions of Government, and I
now see with much pain that that assistance which you promised me when the question of
the possession of slaves by the natives of India in Zanzibar was first mooted, is now
withheld. I would now fain to bring to your Highness' recollection the agreement that
was then made, namely, that the. question should be referred to the Government of [ndia
for their decision, promising me your aid in carrying out the wishes of Government in the
event of their being in conformity with my view of the question, and with this result in
contemplation, your Highness was pleased to put up a notice forbidding all natives of
India under your protection from selling their slaves, or otherwise getting rid of them
before a reply came, and a list of the slaves of the said Indians was drawn up by your
orders to serve as a check against their selling them. If now, after these promises, I do
not receive at your hands that amount of assistance that is due to the Agent of the British
Government to enable him to carry out his instructions in a proper manner, I shall be
under the painful necessity of bringing the circumstance to the serious notice of Her
Majesty's Government, who, it is needless for me to tell you, will be greatly pained to
witness the attitude of your Highness in this matter.
This
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
does not in the least wish to interfere with your Highness' subjects, but
the natives of India who, in order to carry on the Slave Trade, have placed themselves
under your protection are not your subjects, and they cannot be admitted as such.
With regard to the individual whom I caused to be arrested for an attempt to sell one
of his slaves, he is a native of India and amenable to British law, and it having been
proved before the British Consular Court, in his own presence, and, furthermore, admitted
by himself, that he purposed selling his slave in the public slave-market, by virtue of the
powers vested in me by Her Majesty's Government, I have sentenced him to a fine of
500 dollars and to imprisonment until a suitable opportunity offers to send him to India.
Should your Highness object to keep the man in the fort you will be pleased to tell
me so.
I have, &c.
(Signed) HY. A. CHURCHILL.
Inclosure 4 in No. 51,
Mr. Churchill to the Sultan of Zanzibar.
(After the usual compliments.) Zanzibar, February 20, 1869.
I HAVE already conveyed to your Highness verbally, through your Secretary
Suliman bin Ali, the course I propose to follow with reference to the Kutchees and other
natives of India holding slaves in your dominions, and I now have the honour to inform
you in writing that, taking into consideration your Highness' goodwill with regard to the
ultimate abolition of the Slave Trade on this coast, 1 am anxious to carry out the instruc
tions of the Bombay Government in a manner agreeable to your Highness.
With this object in view, I will not object to allow the Kutchees under your protection
the possession of the slaves they now hold, as shown in the register kept by Suliman
bin Ali, provided they do not buy any more or sell those they have. This concession will
have the effect of covering your Highness' amour propre, for, .so long as the Kutchees
under your protection do not traffic in slaves, I shall not interfere with them; but in
order to keep a check over them, I should wish your Highness to order them to give you
the names and description of their slaves.
Any Kutchee under your protection purchasing a slave or selling one shall be deemed to
have committed a heinous crime, and shall be amenable to British jurisdiction; but if your
Highness will pledge yourself to punish such individuals condignly, I will gladly suggest
to the Bombay Government our non-interference.
All future arrivals from India shall be deemed amenable to British law in every way,
and there shall be no excuse for their purchasing or holding slaves in your Hiohness'
dominions. D
About this item
- Content
This file contains printed copies of correspondence between British officials regarding Britain's attempts to prohibit slave traffic on the East Coast of Africa, relations between Britain and the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and Zanzibar's relations with Muscat. The correspondence dates from September 1866-July 1869.
The file contains translated copies of correspondence between the Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Saeed and the Viceroy of India, John Laird Mair Lawrence as well as translated correspondence between an Envoy of the Sultan of Zanzibar and the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Stanley [Edward Henry Stanley].
On folio 42r, the file contains a translation of a letter from Queen Victoria to the Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Saeed. The letter confirms the friendly relations between the two and informs the Sultan that a sword has been specially commissioned for him as a gift.
The file also contains translated correspondence between the Sultan of Johanna [Anjouan Island, now part of the Comoros Islands] and Henry Adrian Churchill, Britain's Agent in Zanzibar.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (34 folios)
- Arrangement
The file is arranged in rough chronological order, with the earliest correspondence at the beginning of the file and the latest at the end of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Condition: the file is contained within a bound volume that contains a number of other files.
Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at f 31, and terminates at f 66, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 5-134; these numbers are written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B83
- Title
- 'Papers Respecting the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa and the System Pursued for its Suppression'
- Pages
- 31r:54r, 55r:66v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence