"مُلخّص المراسلات المتعلّقة بشؤون زنزبار من ١٨٥٦ إلى ١٨٧٢." أعدّه النقيب ب. د. هندرسون، الملحق بالإدارة الخارجية" [ظ‎‎٩‎٦] (١١٤/٣٢)

24
Arbitration of Government of India.
envoy of Syed Thoweynee, who was fully authorised to come to an understandiu^ with him
on all public as well as private matters connected with the death of their late father, did fully
recognise that Zanzibar and its African dependencies belonged of right to him; on the other
hand, Syed Thoweynee disavows that any such concession was ever authorised or made by or
for him, and unhappily no documentary evidence is forthcoming to verify the assertion of
either party. For a similar reason, no satisfactory conclusion can be drawn from the contra
dictory statements regarding the yearly grant of forty thousand crowns which Syed Majid
agreed to pay to Syed Thoweynee, the latter affirming that his agent accepted it in his behalf as
tribute ; whereas Syed Majid insists that it was given and accepted as a friendly gift, and on
the express condition that he ehould be recognized by his brother Thoweynee as the supreme
ruler of Zanzibar and its dependencies. The only two documents produced by Syed Majid
in support of his assertions have already been described in paragraph 11. In the letter
written by Mahomed bin Salem from Muscat to the Customs Master at Zanzibar, he does,
indeed, speak of the grant made by Majid to Thoweynee as a " musaadeh/' that is, an aid
or subsidy; but, on the one hand, it is by no means apparent that Syed Thoweynee sanctioned
such a definition of the money; and, on the other, it is just the style which Mahomed bin
Salem might be expected to adopt in writing to Zanzibar, supposing, what 1 believe to be
now generally believed, that the said agent, in his transactions between the two brothers, had
managed to deceive both parties to his own advantage. The other document, namely, Syed
Majid's order to the Customs Master at Zanzibar to pay to his brother a "subsidy" of forty
thousand crowns per annum, may go a certain way to indicate what His Highnesses own
views were in bestowing the grant, but it fails to prove in any degree that Syed Thoweynee
had accepted it in that light. His Highness, in his written statement, also alludes to a de
claration which Mahomed bin Salem had drawn up, previous to quitting Zanzibar, for present
ation to Syed Thoweynee on his return to Muscat. According to him it was to the following
effect: '1, Mahomed bin Salem, ask of Majid bin Saeed an annual subsidy of forty
thousand crowns in behalf of his brother Thoweynee bin Saeed/* No such paper is foith-
coming; and the circumstances under which it is stated to have been prepared are so improbable
as to throw considerable doubt on His Highnesses veracity.
Summing up the foregoing considerations, I am led to conclude that Syed Majid's
claims to the independent sovereignty of Zanzibar, as based on his alleged recognition by
Syed Thoweynee of Muscat, through the medium of his agent and plenipotentiary, ^Mahomed
bin Salem, must be pronounced untenable.
" I shall now proceed to discuss the last argument urged in behalf of Sved Majid's
claims, namely, his election as their sovereign by the chiefs of Zanzibar and its African
dependencies. His Highnesses own statement to that effect, already quoted in paragraph 10,
is fully confirmed by the testimony of Colonel Rigby, who believes that, if the suffrages of
the princmal chiefs were taken, the majority would undoubtedly elect Syed Majid in pre
ference to Syed Thoweynee. And again, referring to the meditated attack from Muscat in
1H69, the same officer writes—' When the invasion of the Zanzibar dominions by Syed
Th'tweynee was expected, the inhabitants of the Sowahili rose en masse to support Syed
Majid. Many tribes under their own chiefs came over to Zanzibar; every accessible point
on the coast was occupied; and when some of the dhows which had Syed Thoweynee's troops
on board endeavoured to procure wood and water, they were driven from every point at which
they attempted to land, and at length were obliged, in consequence, to surrrender to Syed
Majid s ships of war. At Zanzibar the Sowahili population and the natives of the Comoro
Isles were all in arms to support Syed Majid, and I heard may of them state, as a reason
for doing so, that the Muscat Arabs come here to kidnap their children and carry them away
as slaves. 1 he Northern Arabs are feared and hated at Zanzibar/
<5 mu ng t0 anal ) rse the causes which led to this general preference of
byed Majid to Syed Th.nveynee, there is no good reason to doubt the fact of its existence,
lhat beino. the case, the question natarally arises whether such recognition ol his claims validly
entitles Syed Majid to the sovereignty of Zanzibar and its African dependencies.
"I have already pointed out (paragraph 14) that the supreme power over Oman was
con erred )y election, and (paragraph 3) that, m virtue of that election. His late Hio-hness
Syed Saeed acquired the right of sovereignty over the African dependencies of the parent
State. It does not appear however (in fact it is highly improbable), that the people of
those dependencies enjoyed the privilege of sharing in the election of the soverei-n Up
The distinction between the import of the Arabic terms which I have thrniioimnf „ ,1 v .1 n .
subsidy " and " tribute " is m .at e X] licit. The former denotes a gift accorded solely by thTwi^ of t^ ^
ktter implies obligation, and a proof of Bubjection to superior authority ^ lver >