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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’ [125r] (89/114)
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.
91. R epresentation to L ords of the T reasury regarding cost of
Z anzibar A gency .—The following communication was addressed by the London
Foreign Office to the Lords of the Treasury in October 1871, respecting the
question of dividing the cost of the
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
at Zanzibar between the Imperial
and Indian Governments {vide paragraph 83):
" On receipt of your letter of the 2nd June, intimating the renewed refusal of the
Lords of the Treasury to sanction any further expenditure from imperial funds for the
suppression of the slave trade on the East Coast of Africa, and for contributing to the main
tenance of the
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
at Zanzibar, Lord Granville thought it necessary to ascertain from the
Secretary of State for India what would be the position of this department with respect to the
control of slave-trade questions at Zanzibar, and how far the Agent of the Government of
India would be allowed to interfere in them.
" I am now to transmit to you, for the serious consideration of the Lords of the Treasury,
a copy of the reply from 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.
, stating that their Lordships' decision has compelled
them to determine that the duties and employment of their
Political Agent
A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
shall, in future,
be limited to such objects as to tend directly to promote Indian interests, that all instructions
sent to him must emanate from the Indian Government, and that the ultimate controlling
authority must be vested solely in the Government of India.
" As the Indian Government have always held the suppression of the slave trade to be a
question of imperial and not of Indian interest, this decision will probably involve the neglect
of slave-trade questions, and certainly the loss of control over the Agent at Zanzibar, hitherto
exercised by the Foreign Secretary.
" The Lords of the Treasury must be aware of the heavy and important duties that
devolve upon the Agent at Zanzibar as Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court in the trial of
slave-trade cases, and they can appreciate, as well as Lord Granville, the serious mischief
likely to ensue from a neglect of these duties, as well as from the absence of instructions from
the only department competent to direct the Agent in slave-trade matters; but, unless this
decision is reversed, it is evident either that the department must entirely surrender the
direction of slave-trade affairs on the East Coast, or that Her Majesty's Government must
appoint and pay special Agents of their own.
" Matters are now at a complete dend-lock. No instructions can be sent to the Agent
from this department; and the question is reduced to the single and simple issue, whether the
Imperial Government shall persevere in or abandon its endeavours to suppress the slave trade
on the Coast.
A Select Committee of the House of Commons, recently appointed, has, after hearing the
best evidence that could be produced, reported strongly* in
» J ide paragraph 13. favor of perseverance and increased expenditure on a system,
and, without endorsing all their proposals, which have not yet been sufficiently considered,
Lord Granville cannot doubt that, looking to the strong feeling which pervades the country
on the subject of the slave trade, the spirit of their report will find a response in Parliament,
and in the public generally, who will insist upon more being done.
"Lord Granville is decidedly of opinion that such a general feeling cannot be disregarded
by Her Majesty's Government, and at all events, as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
he will not assume the responsibility of disregarding it. It must rest, therefore, with the
Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to decide whether they will as the first
step grant or withhold the sums necessary to meet the expenditure for such an establishment
as may be required at Zanzibar for carrying out a more vigorous and better organized policy
for the suppression of the slave trade on the east coast of Africa under the direction of Her
Majesty's Government."
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