‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’ [‎129r] (97/114)

Slave Trade.
of a character to hamper seizures of slave crafts and to throw on us the suspicion of usinsr
the authority which we possess under that treaty towards an illeg.il interference with the
slaves status which that same treaty sanctions, thus exciting against us the doubts,
opposition, and hatred of those whom the action of the treaty should rather convince and
conciliate. ,,
With regard especially to the limits of his own charge, the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
Colonel Pelly remarked that obviously the best position for a cruiser would
be the Straits of Mussendom, at the opening of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. :
" Still/' he continued, " even when so stationed, a cruiser would not make a very great
number of seizures for more than one or two seasons, since the slave runners would doubtless
land their slaves before entering the Straits, and contrive to pass them overland to market; atd
the margin for profits as between the price of a slave bought in East Africa at from 6 to 1£
dollars and the price of a slave sold in the markets of Asia at from 6(3 to 100 or 200 dollars
is so great that it is worth the while of a dealer to run almost any risks and sustain almost
any losses, provided he eventually succeed in selling a moderate percentage of his drove. On
the whole, however, my personal observation of slave trade, as well along the East Coast of
Africa as alonij the coasts of Arabia and Southern Persia, induces me to think that, if one
cruiser were stationed in the Straits of Mussendom, a second at the turning point of Rasel
Had, with boats near Soor, and a third in the neighbourhood of Socotra, with boats towards
Maculla, these vessels would find themselves in the best position practicable for suppressing
the slave trade between East Africa, the Berbera Coast, and Southern Central Asia, because a
craft taking her departure from Africa would be compelled to sight one of these points,
whether fur the sake of water or of verifying her position. Again, these cruisers would prove
of great, and since the abolition of Her Majesty^s Indian Navy, of almost essential importance
for our continually increasing interests along these shores."— [Political, A, May J 864, Nos. 169
^70.)
103. P resent of ordnance made to S ultan of Z anzibar .—In recog
nition of the services rendered by Sultan Syed Majid in the suppression of
the slave trade, and with more special reference to his recent prohibition against
the transport of slaves even from port to port in his dominions during the
monsoon, the Government of India sanctioned the presentation to His Highness
of six mountain train guns with carriages and limbers complete, and a moderate
supply of ammunition,— [Folitical, A, May 1864, Nos. 173 Sf 174.)
104. R enewed efforts of the S ultan to suppress slavery.—
Writing in March 1864 Colonel Play fair reported that contrary to the practice
of all previous years the most perfect tranquility prevailed at Muscat, and
that, comparatively, few Northern Arabs,—less than half the usual average,—
had made their appearance during the season. As their object in coming was
merely to procure a supply of slaves, their absence had no effect on the
commercial prosperity of Zanzibar.— (Politiccil) A, 31(ii/ iVos. 1/1 ^ 172.)
Colonel Play fair reported, in November 1864, that the Sultan had abolished
a tax that he had recently imposed on cocoanut trees, and had substituted in
its place an increased tax on slaves.— {Folitical, A, February 1865, Nos. 25
fy 26.)
105. C olonel P layfair's comments on the operations of the
slave squadron .—A correspondence that had passed between Colonel Play-
fair and Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was forwarded
for the information of Government by the former in June 1864. It appears
that Colonel Play fair, writing in May 1863, had represented to Earl Russell
that, to use his own words—
" a series of arbitrary acts on the part of Her Majesty's vessels, and the capture and
destruction of numerous dhows, whose complicity in the slave trade was at best extremely
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