![‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’ [‎100r] (39/114)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000833.0x0001a7/IOR_L_PS_18_B150A_0039.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’ [‎100r] (39/114)")
‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’ [100r] (39/114)
The record is made up of 1 file (55 folios). It was created in 1872. 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.
Arbitration of Government of India.
"Ind, that, as reorards the succession to that sovereignty, neither the ruler of Muscat,
nor the tribes of Oman, shall have any ri^ht whatever to interfere; but the
sovereign of Zanzibar, or the sovereign in conjunction with the people, shall be
left absolutely free to make whatever arrangements they may deem expedient for
appointing future successors to Syed Majid :
<f 3rt?, that, in consideration of these concessions, Syed Majid shall be bound to remit
to Syed Thoweynee the stipulated yearly subsidy of 40,000 Crowns \ and, further,
to liquidate all the arrears due on that account since the payment was suspended :
" 4eth, that this subsidy of 40,000 Crowns per annum shall be a primary and permanent
charge on the revenues of the Zanzibar State, payable by the sovereign of that
State to the ruling sovereign ot Muscat and Oman.
" The liberty accorded me by the Hon'ble the Governor in Council of recommendin<;
a fair adjustment of the differences existing between their Highnesses Syed Thoweynee and
Syed Majid, has warranted me in submitting these terms as, in my opinion, the best which
can be proposed to that end. 1 do not feel authorised to exceed the limits of my commission
by advising any precautionary measures for the due observance of those terms by the rival
parties; nevertheless, as it does not appear that the Right Hon'ble the Governor General
has undertaken to guarantee that his final arbitration shall be carried out, and as it is more
than probable that pretexts will be constantly devised on both sides to evade the obligations
imposed by His Lordship's decision,—pretexts which, by re-opening the existing dispute, will
entail the most disastrous consequences to the welfare of the two States,— 1 venture with much
diffidence to suggest whether the following subsidiary terms might not be insisted on as a safe
guard against such evasions:
" btA, that no cause whatever, other than an open attempt on the part of Syed
Thoweynee or his successors to infringe upon the independence of the Zanzibar
sovereignty, shall be held to justify Syed Majid or his successors in with
holding the stipulated subsidy :
" 6t/i, that in the event of any such attempt being made by the ruler of Muscat, or, on
the other hand, in the event of the sovereign of the Zanzibar State failing, under
any plea whatever, to pay the aforesaid subsidy, the aggrieved party shall submit
the case to the Viceroy and Governor General of India before proceeding to settle
the dispute by an appeal to arms/'
25. Brigadier Coghlan's report. Ability of Zanzibar to pat the
subsidy .—Syed Majid had, on the 11th September 1860, written to Colonel
Rigby representing the inability of his State to pay a subsidy of 40,000
Crowns annually. In forwarding the above to the Bombay Government,
Colonel Bigby had entered into a full statement of Syed Majid's pecuniary
resources of liabilities. On this subject Brigadier Coghlan wrote—
" I have deemed it desirable to insist on the payment of the subsidy agreed on between
the two parties, because various excuses are urged by Syed Majid to evade that obligation.
The most reasonable of these is the actual condition of His Highness s finances. On this sub
ject Colonel Rigby writes—' The difficulty arises from the embarrassed state of the Zanzibar
treasury. Syed Majid is entirely dependent on the will of his Customs Master for supplies of
monev, and were he now to bind himself to the payment of an annual sum, and the
Customs Master subsequently refuse to advance the amount, Syed Majid might be com
pelled to break bis engagement without any fault of his own/ As an offset, however,
against the difficulty, Colonel Rigby subjoins— f But if His Highness could be persuaded
to establish a small force of disciplined troops, with a few light guns, m place of the
useless rabble now in his pay, and would also get nd of most of the large ships
which he now has, and which are of no use whatever, and in place of them beep two
or three small vessels efficiently manned, it would be a great direct saving to him ; and,
knowing that he had troops he could rely on, he would feel more independent of the Arabs
from the north, and of the Chiefs of tribes amongst whom he squanders so much money.
Syed Mai id himself estimates the amount which he pays yearly in gratuities to the northern
Arabs at'15,000 Crowns; and Colonel Rigby gives a list of several of the principal Chiefs of
Zanzibar, who are subsidised by Syed Majid, and whose aggregate incomes from his treasury
exceed 10,000 Crowns per annum. The saving of these sums alone (and there would certainly
be no reason for their being continued when once the sovereignty of Zanzibar was secured to
31
About this item
- Content
The file is a précis of correspondence related to affairs at Zanzibar between the years 1856 and 1872, prepared by Captain Philip Durham Henderson of the Foreign Department in the Government of India. The contents of the précis, which includes reports from Christopher Palmer Rigby, the British Consul at Zanzibar, and Sir William Marcus Coghlan, relate to: the death in 1856 of the Sultan of Muscat Syed Saeed [Sa‘id bin Sulṭān al-Sa‘id] without a direct heir; the succession struggle between Syed Thoweynee [Thuwaynī bin Sa‘id al-Sa‘id] and Syed Majid [Sa‘id Majid bin Said al-Sa‘id]; British arbitration in the dispute; succession arrangements at Muscat and Zanzibar; the slave trade between Zanzibar and Muscat. The précis is organised into six chapters (labelled I to VI), as follows:
- I – Events preceding the arbitration by the Government of India;
- II – Arbitration of the Government of India;
- III – Proceedings subsequent to the arbitration relating to the question of subsidy;
- IV – Events at Zanzibar from the arbitration to the death of Syed Majid;
- V – Events in Zanzibar from the death of Syed Majid;
- VI – Slave Trade.
The contents page lists four appendices (labelled A to D) that are not included in this copy of the précis.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (55 folios)
- Arrangement
The correspondence contained in the précis is arranged in an approximate chronological order, with those of earliest date (1856) at the front, and those of latest date (1872) at the end. The correspondence is further arranged into six chapters labelled I to VI. Subheadings throughout the précis are numbered from 1 (for the first subheading in chapter I) to 131 (for the last subheading in chapter VI). A contents page (ff 82-84) lists the chapters, subheadings and subheading numbers. Note that a discrepancy appears between the subheading numbers and the subheading contents in chapter VI.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at f 81, and terminates at f 137, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additonal foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 6-192; these numbers are also written in pencil but, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.
Pagination: The file also contains an original printed pagination sequence 1-105.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B150A
- Title
- ‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’
- Pages
- 81r:137v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence