"مُلخّص المراسلات المتعلّقة بشؤون زنزبار من ١٨٥٦ إلى ١٨٧٢." أعدّه النقيب ب. د. هندرسون، الملحق بالإدارة الخارجية" [ظ‎‎٩‎٧] (١١٤/٣٤)

Arbitration of Government of India-
which had preceded him to Zanzibar, Syed Thoweynee is severely censured for having attempted
through his agent Hamed bin Salem, to settle the differences subsisting between himself and
his brother Syed Majid, after he had consented to submit his claims to the arbitration of the
Governor General of India. His Highness's explanation of that transaction is to the following
effect: f After receiving the communication from Government through Colonel Russell, which
induced me to abandon the expedition and to submit my case to the arbitration of the Governor
General I understood that an officer would be sent to Zanzibar to institute the necessary
inquiries; and as I deemed it desirable to have an agent on the spot to represent me, I decided
to send Hamed bin Salem in that capacity. My intention in this respect was communicated
to Colonel Russell. I do not deny having written the letter to Syed Majid, but I declare
that it was one of friendship merely, and that any overtures which miorht have been made by
Hamed bin Salem, in consequence of that letter, were by no means designed to set aside the
final arbitration of the Governor General. My intention was, by previously establishing a
more friendly understanding with Syed Majid, to render the task of arbitration easier, and the
result more satisfactory to both parties/ Allowing for a certain degree of Native disingenuous-
ness in this apology, it is not devoid of plausibility; and, further, it is very questionable
whether Syed Thoweynee fully appreciated the extent of restraint which he had voluntarily
incurred bv accepting the arbitration of a third party. On all such points of international
law, Syed Majid had the advantage of Colonel Rigby's constant advice and guidance; whereas
the British Agent at Muscat at the time was an illiterate Jew, who was as incapable of advising
Syed Thoweynee as His Highness was naturally backward to consult him.
" For the remaining charges brought against Syed Thoweynee, of having, through his
agents and others, created disaffection at Zanzibar, and excited the El Harth tribe to rebel
against Syed Majid, I must refer the Hon'ble the Governor in Council to my Muscat
report, where His Highnesses vindication of himself is also recorded. On a careful review of
the whole, it appears to me that, although Syed Thoweynee had not ceased to correspond
directly with the disaffected at Zanzibar, and endeavoured to maintain a party there fa vorable
to his ulterior views, nevertheless he is not justly chargeable with many of the actsalleged
against his agents, nor with having instigated the rebellion of the El Harth in October 1859.
I am confirmed in this conclusion by the opinion of Colonel Rigby, who, in writing of that
tribe, says—' Their rebellion last year was not intended to favor either Syed Thoweynee or
Syed Burgash, but with the hope of getting rid of the whole family of the late Imam, and
then obtaining possession of the government. Moreover, the charges made against Hamed bin
Salem, as Syed Thoweynee's principal agent, in fomenting the insurrection at Zanzibar, are
considerably qualified by the friendly tenor of the letters addressed to that individual on his
final departure for Muscat by Syed Majid himself; and Sooliman bin Hamed, His Highnesses
Vizier, in whose integrity Colonel Rigby formerly placed great confidence, but whom he has
since had cause to regard as a most unprincipled man, did not hesitate, in a letter to Syed
Thoweynee, to imply that Colonel Rigby was in some degree responsible for the rebellion
of 1859, and for the subsequent conduct of Syed Burgash.
" The numerous charges made against Syed Thoweynee, of having acted throughout under
French influence, were rebutted by His Highness in the manner already reported. I am further
able to confirm his account of the paper submitted to him by the French Commodore De Langle
by the admission of Syed Majid, who, in his written statement, relates that, on being appealed
to by the former to do so, he had directed his Vizier, Sooliman bin Hamed, to draw up a docu
ment of precisely the eame import as that described by Syed Thoweynee as having been handed
to him at Muscat by the French Commodore. Equally inconclusive in proof of this general
imputation is the statement of Colonel Rigby that ' the French Consul was known to be
carrying on a very active correspondence with Syed Thoweynee^. The letters from Muscat to
the disaffected Arabs here (Zanzibar) were sent under cover to the French Consul. That no
collusion existed in this matter between the parties referred to is evident from the tenor of the
French Consul's official despatch to Syed Thoweynee, wherein he especiiilly requests His
Highness * not to enclose any letters for the Arabs at Zanzibar in the letters which he may
do him the honor to address to him/ Moreover, Syed Majid frankly acknowledged that he
had no evidence to prove that his brother had been acting under the influence of the French;
and Colonel Rigby himself, who had framed several of his inferential charges against Syed
Thoweynee in that respect, on the assertions of the then French Consul at Zanzibar, now
writes—■ From subsequent experience 1 have very little faith in anything the French Consul
said on any subject/
" But if Syed Thoweynee is justly chargeable in any degree with having intrigued against
Syed Majid after he had consented to refer the settlement of his claims to the arbitration of the
Governor General of India, Syed Majid is equally open to the imputation of having kept
up a secret correspondence with Syed Toorkee of Sohar, who was well known to be disaffected
towards his suzerain at Muscat, and was actively plotting with the tribes and with the
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