'Papers Respecting the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa and the System Pursued for its Suppression' [‎58r] (55/72)

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family of his father, the money deposited by him in the interim would be returned to him
and he would be released from all further payments.
In^ such a case it would, of course, be necessary, to fix some period, at the end of
which, if the family of Syud Saeed should not recover possession of Muscat, the subsidy
payments should be restored to the Sultan of Zanzibar, but this might be left for future
decision.
No. 57.
Mr. Otway to Mr. Merivale.
Sir, Foreign Office, May 29, 1869.
I HAVE laid before the Earl of Clarendon your letter of the 10th instant, inclosing
the draft of a despatch which the Duke of Argyll proposes to address to the Government
of India relative to the subsidy paid by the Sultan of Zanzibar to the Sultan of Muscat,
and requesting to be favoured with any opinions which his Lordship may have to offer
upon the questions to which the draft relates.
Lord Clarendon desires me, in reply, to state that he has some difficulty in offering an
opinion upon matters on which he has not the same detailed information that is possessed
by the Secretary of Sate for India, and on which, therefore, he has not the same oppor
tunity of forming a correct judgment.
It appears, however, to his Lordship that it would be a more satisfactory solution of
the Zanzibar and Muscat question if we were to accept the de facto state of things, and to
declare that the arrangement which we brought about in 1861, between the sons of the
late imaum of Muscat, having lapsed by reason of the revolution that has recently taken
place in that State, Her Majesty's Government no longer feel themselves called upon to
compel the Sultan of Zanzibar to continue the payment of the subsidy to Muscat.
Lord Clarendon is of opinion that it is open to Her Majesty's Government to adopt
this course, and that it would be good policy to do so, and thus to relieve the Indian
authorities from an embarrassing engagement. His Lordship does not understand on
what ground it is sought by the Indian Government to maintain that the payment of the
subsidy by Zanzibar to Muscat is an engagement between State and State, and has no
reference to family considerations. If Lord Clarendon is rightly informed, the arrange
ment in regard to the subsidy, which was originally made between the two sons of the late
Imaum of Muscat, Sultan Majid and Sultan Thouweynee, had respect to the two brothers
only, no provision whatever being made for its continuance beyond their own lifetime;
and it was only by a decision of the Government of India that it was sought to extend the
arrangement as between State and State. But, whatever may have been the considerations
which at that time influenced the Indian authorities to extend a personal compact into an
engagement between Slate and State, the revolution which has recently taken place in
Muscat has entirely altered the state of things, and, in his Lordship's opinion, it would be
manifestly unjust to compel Sultan Majid to pay a subsidy to the present Ruler of Muscat,
who has no claims whatever upon him, and not only has deprived Sultan Majid's relatives
of the Chiefship of Muscat, but has also, if Lord Clarendon is rightly informed, confiscated
the private property of some of his relatives which fell into his power.
Lord Clarendon is glad to perceive, from the tenor of the proposed draft to the
Governor-General of India, that the Duke of Argyll is not prepared to enforce the payment
of the Zanzibar subsidy to Syud Azan the present Ruler of Muscat. His Grace, however
would appear to be of opinion that, as by a recent arrangement the amount of the subsidy
is paid by the Sultan of Zanzibar to the Bombay Government, it might be held in trust by
that Government during the struggles for supremacy in Muscat which are supposed to be
imminent, to be returned to Sultan Majid, should the Chiefship of Muscat pass definitively
away from his family.
Upon this point. Lord Clarendon desires me to submit, for the consideration of the
Duke of Argyll, whether the fact of the subsidy being held in deposit by the Indian
authorities for an indefinite period, on the chance of one of the direct descendants oi
Sayu Sayed regaining the Chiefship of Muscat, it may not be calculated to act as an
inducement to the dispossessed Chiefs to attempt to reconquer the Throne of Muscat, and
thus be the means of perpetuating hostilities which it might be better policy to discourage.
His Grace will probably be better enabled to arrive at a correct judgment in this matter
than Lord Clarendon. His Lordship desires me, however, to state that, as far as Imperial
interests are concerned, it would materially assist Her Majesty's Government in making
arrangements with the Sultan of Zanzibar for the suppression of the Slave Trade on the