"مُلخّص المراسلات المتعلّقة بشؤون زنزبار من ١٨٥٦ إلى ١٨٧٢." أعدّه النقيب ب. د. هندرسون، الملحق بالإدارة الخارجية" [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎٩] (١١٤/٩٨)

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Slave Trade-
doubtful, bad engendered throughout the entire African and Arabian coast a feeling of the
most bitter animosity against the English ; that in few places was a Christian's life safe beyond
the immediate precincts of the Sultan's forts; and that such a feeling of insecurity was
engendered, that legitimate commerce languished and threatened to collapse."
The Lords of the Admiralty, while admitting an unauthorized destruction
of certain dhows by the boatswain of the Gorgon, took exception to the state
ments of Colonel Playfair, who, when called upon for an explanation, defended
his remarks on the authority of Colonel Pelly, Captain Oldfield, himself a
naval officer, and all the European residents of Zanzibar. He further in
stanced the case of a Turkish dhow improperly destroyed by the Lidon for
which Her Majesty's Government had to pay damages to the amount of £5,771,
and the proceedings in Mombasa harbour of the boats of Her Majesty's ship
Ariel. Of this latter case, Colonol Playfair wrote—
"Dr. Krapff, the celebrated African traveller, who was an eye-witness of the affair, says
in regard to it; f It is the indiscriminate destruction of property which enrages the Natives
against the English, not the suppression of the slave trade itself/ I could enumerate other
acts of a similar nature were it necessary, but the above are sufficient, and I have no desire to
make specific accusations against any officer."
With regard to the dhow captured by the Gorgon, Colonel Playfair
observed—
" People who are only too ready to take exception to our acts, will not be content to abide
by the decision of a warrant officer, and they will naturally ask whether it is right that he
should be judge, who is also captor and pecuniarily interested in the capture, and whose social
standing does not offer a sufficient guarantee for his impartiality."
Colonel Playfair defended himself from the imputation of adopting the
statements of interested persons which had been made against him by the
Admiralty, and asserted that he had always lent his cordial support in the
suppression of the slave trade, which duty he, nevertheless, wished to see carried
out with care and circumspection. He concluded—
" I believe that no naval officer now on the station will deny that f arbitrary acts'
have been committed, and it is mainly owing to these having been fearlessly reported that
they have ceased to exist, and, as I have before now pointed out, that the recollection of them
has in a great measure been effaced."
Earl Russell entirely concurred in the views set forth in Colonel
Play fair's reply.— {Folitical, A, March 1865, Nos. 206 fy 207.)
106.— C olonel P latfair's views on the slave trade .—The following
observations are extracted from a despatch addressed by Colonel Playfair to
Earl Kussell in May 1865, reporting on the measures adopted for the sup
pression of the slave trade during the season then closed, and their results.
He wrote—
" From what I have stated, it is evident that our operations during all the years over
which they have extended, have had no appreciable effect in stopping the slave trade, and from
the experience 1 have gained at Zanzibar, I have no hesitation in saying that nothing, we can
do will ever stop it. Many slavers may be taken, and, if we put sufficient pressure, the
export may even be entirely suspended for a time ; but the moment that pressure is removed,
and our efforts relaxed, it will be resumed with as great activity as ever.
" The whole fabric of Arab society is so interwoven with slaverv, and the manners and
customs of that race are so unchangeable, that it is hopeless to expect that they will ever
permanently abandon their pursuit of slaves. Their fathers have possessed them ever since
Arabia was peopled, and they have no idea of a state of things in which slaves do not occupy
a prominent place. The institution is one sanctioned by their religion; such a thing as civil
law or any other not contained in the Koran is unknown to them ; and I fear that no efforts ot
ours can induce them to regard slavery with the horror which its name excites in a Christian
mind.