'Zanzibar, Arabia, and the Persian Gulf' [‎43r] (3/8)

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3. Claim of the
Sultan of Zanzibar
to be exempt from
the obligation to
pay subsidy.
ably viewed by the Indian Governments which now
conduct these affairs. If, notwithstanding the ob
jections stated, it should be resolved to transfer the
management of these affairs wholly or extensively
to the Foreign Office, there can be no doubt, that
in that case, as a preliminary and means of carrying
out such an arrangement, an appointment of the
kind proposed would be indispensable. Otherwise,
all that we can do with propriety would be to
suggest to the Government of India the expediency
of appointing such an Officer, leaving the decision
and the selection of the person to that authority.
I cannot bring myself to believe that the Govern
ment of India would decide this question in the
affirmative. If it should do so, the Officer deputed
should be supplied by the Admiral with a vessel of
war beyond the usual strength, besides having
Government steamers as yachts, or partly armed,
to give to his mission due prestige and authority.
.A third question has been mooted, and we have the
opinion of the Government of India upon it; and
that is, whether Syud Mujeed, the present ruler of
Zanzibar, has any claim to be relieved, or, on the
grounds of policy should be relieved, from the obli
gation to pay an annual amount to the Ruler of
Muscat, as settled and agreed to by him, and
guaranteed by us, in the arrangement made be
tween him and his brother Thuwenee ? Syud
Mujeed pleads that his brother having been assas
sinated by his son, the present Ruler of Muscat,
that act frees him from any obligation to make
any payment to the assassin. Nay, he might
further plead that that atrocious deed imposed
on him the obligation to avenge his brother’s
death, and, according to all Asiatic ideas, gave
him full right to assert a claim to the succession,
as next brother in age to the deceased, and as
was done by Syud Toorkee, the third son of Syud
Suyeed, but not successfully. In fact, according to
all Asiatic notions, the death of Syud Thuwenee in
the manner it occurred, would be considered by any
one in the position of his brother, Syud Mujeed, as
freeing him from the obligation of making any
further payments, so that that question would
stand as between him and his nephew, the assassin,
upon the simple ground whether he was in a con
dition to resist the payment by a resort to arms.
Here, however, our Government comes in and says,
“ We forbid a resort to arms. It was to prevent
“ this that we mediated the arrangement between
“ you and Thuwenee. We insist on that being
“ carried out to the letter, in favour of the suc-
“ cessor of Syud Thuwenee, whosoever he may
“ be.”
I am sorry to see in the letter of the Government
of India a doubt expressed upon the fact that Syud
Salim did assassinate his father. The deed was
perpetrated in open durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). . He shot him in the
presence of hundreds, and the convulsions and
troubles that followed were evidence conclusive of
the crime. For some time our Government hesi
tated whether to acknowledge the assassin. We took