'Memorandum on the Drafts of Despatches regarding the Affairs of Muscat and Zanzibar' [‎33r] (15/24)

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But what are the risks of a revival of Wahabee
piracy ? Is it not dead, and will it not remain so if
we leave it alone ?
“ I would answer, first, by referring to the past.
Piracy, especially on the ships of idolatrous and
usurious Hindoos, or of Christians and other Kaffirs,
has been the sanctified amusement of these tribes
for ages. Sindbad found them at it in the good
days of Haroun-al-Raschid, and there are many men
now alive who I have had relating that, in their own
days, no unarmed vessel was safe from the attacks
of pirates, Soorees, Joasmis,and Has el Khymerees,
when trading between Bombay and Surat.
“ Since 1824, the effect of Ibrahim Pacha’s cam
paigns in Nedj, the Muscat operations on the coast,
our own expeditions to punish some of the pirate
nests, and the constant patrol of the sea by the
vessels of the late Indian Navy, have made piracy
impossible.
“ So the old pirates took to slavery on the East
Coast of Africa, and our Consuls at Zanzibar,
Colonels Playfair and Rigby, as well as Pelly and
Dr. Livingstone, or Captain Oldfield, or any intelli
gent officer of the East Coast squadron, will tell
you that the Soorees, Joasmis,and Ras el Khymerees
are just as well known as the most active and
desperate slavers now on the African coast, as they
were famous as pirates 50 years ago on the coasts of
Persia and Western India.
“ Moreover, our anti-slavery operations in Eastern
Africa have excited the most bitter animosity against
us, but especially against our naval officers, through
out the old pirate coast, and popular feelings every
where would be in favour of a revival of piracy.
“ For the last three years, since the abolition of
the late Indian Navy, Colonel Pelly has managed to
get on without any naval force in the Gulf, but no
one knows better than your Excellency that this
cannot go on for any length of time, and that when
it is clearly seen that there is no material force at
hand to punish the wrong-doer, there is no per
manent security for the efficacy of moral force.
“ You remember how Trevelyan objected to
letting the Resident have even a steam yacht in
place of the Indian Navy squadron of former days.
“ Such a yacht might have done well enough as
long as all went smoothly; but one such vessel will
not suffice for the police of the Gulf, and I am
equally certain that you cannot wash your hands of
all responsibility for the police of the Gulf, nor pro
vide for it by means of an occasional visit in the
cool weather from a man-of-war, whose orders
peremptorily forbid stay after the hot weather in
April sets in.
“ Nothing short of a formal written requisition
from your Excellency in Council will justify the
Commodore in leaving a single small vessel in the
Gulf after April, nor will even that oblige any
Officer up there to act as you wish, nor to comply
with any requisition of the Resident, unless he, the
Captain, agrees with him.
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