Zanzibar Affairs [‎74r] (11/18)

No. 5, dated Foreign Office, London, the 17th March 1871.
From—The Right Honffile the Earl of Granville, k. g., Her Maiesty's Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs.
To—The Acting 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. and Consul, Zanzibar.
§ince my despatch No. 4 of the 10 th instant was written, I have
received your despatches Nos. 57, 8 , and 13 of December 26th, and the 8 th and
t 16th of January, Reporting a favorable change in the state of affairs at Zanzibar,
and in the policy of Syud Burgash with respect to the slave trade, and I have
to convey to you my entire approval of your proceedings as reported in those
despatches.
I have learnt with great satisfaction that Syud Burgush no longer desires to
repudiate the decrees and proclamations of his predecessor with respect to the
action of Her Majesty’s cruisers against slave traders within his dominions,
and against the traffic in slaves during the periods when it was prohibited by
the late Sultan, and I attribute this satisfactory result in a great measure to the
tact and discretion which you have shown in these matters.
I have nothing to add to the instructions that I sent to you on the 10 th
instant, regarding the fresh proposals for the better suppression of the slave
trade, which it will be your duty to submit to Syud Burgash, and I wish to leave
the time and mode of executing those instructions entirely to your discretion.
I will only add that, in consequence of a recent decision of the Treasury, no
additional expense can be incurred for the present (as proposed in the report
of the Committee) in increasing the staff of the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Zanzibar, or the
naval force employed in the suppression of the slave trade on the east coast,
or in appointing consular agents along the coast to control the traffic within
the limits to be regulated by treaty.
Enclosure No- 12.
No. 4119, dated Bombay Castle, the 30th August 1871.
From —W. Wedderburn, Esq., Acting Secy, to the Govt, of Bombay, Political Dept.
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
I have received and laid before His Excellency the Governor in Council
your letter No. 1529 P, dated the 21 st ultimo, relating to Zanzibar affairs.
2 . With reference to the remark at the close of your 2 nd paragraph, that
the Governor General in Council is not aware that any question as to the line
of policy to be followed in the dealings of the Government of India with the
Zanzibar State remains to be settled, I am desired to point out that the recog
nition of His Highness Syud Burgash was deferred by the Bombay Govern-
* Vide papers forwarded with Bombay ment pending the instructions* of the Government
Government letter No. 386, dated of India, and that in your letter of February the
e 3rd December 1870. 17 th, No. 361 P of 1871, it w r as stated that the
Viceroy and Governor General in Council declined to acknowledge the khureeta An important letter usually sent in an elaborate textile pouch, dispatched as part of the royal or diplomatic correspondence of rulers and elites.
addressed to His Excellency by Syud Burgash announcing his accession until
further information was received. In like manner (as the Government of
India were informed in my letter of the 28th February last. No. 869) His
Excellency the Governor of Bombay refrained from giving any answer to His
Highness’s letter to his address.
3. I am, however, to state that any further acknowledgment of His
Highness Syud Burgash’s succession to the Sultanate of Zanzibar seems now
unnecessary, in consequence of the formal recognition of His Highness by the
Foreign Office, of which this Government are informed by a despatch from the
Acting 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. and Consul at Zanzibar, Dr. Kirk, a copy of which
accompanies my letter of this date, No. 1118.
1. Referring to the concluding paragraph of the letter under acknowledg
ment, I am instructed to state that no communication has been made to Messrs.
Jairam Sewjee in regard to the payment by Zanzibar of the subsidy to Muscat,
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