![‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’ [‎120v] (80/114)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000833.0x0001a7/IOR_L_PS_18_B150A_0080.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’ [‎120v] (80/114)")
‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’ [120v] (80/114)
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.
Events in Zanzibar from the death of Syed Majid
should be transferred to the Foreign Office, which cnuld not take cojrnizance of cases affecting
the interests of Indian subjects, and subjects of neighbouring allied States, with the rapidity
aiid convenience that are desirable/
" Your Exoplb'ncy is aware that the anomalous state of things here adverted to wns brought
by Her Majesty^s Government under the consideration of a special committee on the East African
slave trade, in which the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the India Olfice, and the Admiralty
were represented, and of which Mr. Churchill, your Agent at Zanzibar (then on sick leave),
was a member. The committee were of opinion that as the duties of the
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
and Con
sulate at Zanzibar were of a two-fold character,—one part concerning the Indian, and the other
the Imperial, Government,—it was expedient that the controlling authority should be divided
between the Foreign Office and the
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.
, and first that the cost of maintaining this
two-fold establishment should be equally divided between the Imperial and the Indian Govern
ments. This recommendation was supported by the Foreign Office and the
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.
;
but it is with much regret that I have to inform you that the proposal has been negatived by
the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury,* who refuse to
Vide paragraph 83. burden the Imperial Exchequer with any part of the expendi
ture necessary for the support of the Zanzibar establishment.
" Against this decision I have protested. I concur in opinion with Your Excellency^
Government that the revenues of Indii should on no account be charged with any part of
the expenditure entailed by the efforts made for the suppression of the East African slave
trade. But I do not agree with you in considering that the interests of India are in no
wise promoted by the residence at Zanzibar of an officer appointed and controlled by the Indian
Governments. There is a large and increasing trade between India and Zanzibar, and many
subjects of Her Majesty and of neighbouring Indian States are located in that territory.
Apart from all political considerations, it appears to me, indeed, open to serious question
whether an entire severance of the existing connection between your Government and the
Sultan of Zanzibar would not be highly injurious to large numbers of the people under your
rule.
"If, therefore, it should be finally determined by the Lords of the Treasury that no
contribution shall be made by the Imperial Exchequer towards the maintainance of the
Briiish establishment at Zanzibar, I should consider it my duty, in communication with Your
Excellency, to place the
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
on an entirely new footing, so that no payment should there
after be made from the Indian revenues on account of any proceedings connected with the
suppression of the slave trade, or any other measures not having for their object the benefit of the
people of India. But it will be obvious to Your Excellency that at a time when the Financial
Department of Her Majesty's Government refuse to entertain a proposal strongly recommended
by other departments for an equitable division of the expenses of the Zanzibar establishment,
I could not, if I thought it desirable, recommend that the Imperial Government should
relieve India altogether of the charge of the Zanzibar
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
and Consulate.
u Another proposal of a very opposite character has been brought to my notice since this
despatch was commenced. I learnt, in the first instance, through the Foreign Office, that
Mr. Churchill, having gone to Bombay, had put himself in communication with Sir Seymour
Fitzgerald witb respect to the expediency of annexing the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzi-
* Vide ar a h 79 ^ ar to our ■'■ nc ^ an Empire,* and that the proposal would be
recommended by Your Excellency. On learning this, I lost
no time in telegraphing to the Governor of Bombay that no such proposal would be entertained
by Her Majesty's Government, and that I hoped it would never be submitted. 1 have since
learnt with regret that it has taken a more substantive official shape than I had expected.
With respect to the proposal, it only requires that I should communicate to you the absolute
disapproval of Her Majesty's Government of any project for the annexation of Zanzibar,
or the assertion of any right to interfere with the succession in that country, and I do so with
greater satisfaction, from the knowledge that Your Excellency's views are in accordance
with my own.
" With regard, however, to the recent proceedings of Mr. Churchill, both at the time of
the death of the late Sultan Syed Majid and subsequently on the occasion of his visit to
Bombay, I cannot refrain from expressing my opinion—an opinion in entire accord with that
expressed by Your Excellency—that he has altogether misunderstood his position and manifest
ed an amount of indiscretion which proves him to be wholly unfitted for so important a post.
Mr. Churchill, as you are aware, is not like his predecessors, an officer of tlie Indian estab
lishment, but a member of the Consular Service of Great Britain. By an interchange of ap
pointments, which I have never been thoroughly able to understand, and such as 1 hope will not
be sanctioned again, Her Majesty's Consul-General in Algeria became Agent and Consul at
Zanzibar under the
Government of Bombay
From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions.
. 1 am anxious now, as soon as pos-ible, to see
72
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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‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’ [120v] (80/114), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B150A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023935572.0x000051> [accessed 11 March 2025]
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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