"ملف ٥/ ١٩٣ II (ب ٣٨) الرق في الخليج" [و‎‎١‎٣] (٤٧٥/٣٠)

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54. Given the necessary funds it should not be impossible to institute a simple
system of intelligence to furnish information as to sales and other malpractices.
1 he appointment of a paid agent in each of the towns of Jedda, Mecca and Medina
would probably produce results, but so long as slavery as an institution remains
and the present practices are condoned by the King, and African slaves continue to
be sought after, it would be a waste of time, I think, to attempt to induce the local
authorities to take severe action against offenders—action that is of a nature to
discourage the practice itself—although possibly in the isolated cases that might be
brought to their notice the authorities might make some sort of pretence of doing so
as a sop to British representations.
55. There are one or two other points in Mr. Bullard’s note on which 1 should
like to comment. He suggests that some restriction should be enforced on the taking
of children or young persons on the pilgrimage. This would also mean that women
could not accompany their husbands. Such restriction would certainly serve its
purpose, but it would materially affect the volume of the pilgrimage, and the
, countries responsible for doing so would have to face an outcry in the Hejaz. As
Mr. Bullard states, few Far Eastern pilgrims come to the Hejaz for less than four
or five months; many of these stay for a second pilgrimage or even for several years,
and many of them bring their children with them. In the case of Africans, it is
the rule rather than otherwise for pilgrims to be accompanied by their women and
children, and they are often accompanied by other young persons too. An attempt
to impose such restrictions would in all probability also meet with considerable
opposition from the pilgrims themselves and from their communities, and might be
represented as unwarrantable interference in religious matters.
56. The threat alone to introduce regulations of this sort might, however, be
useful as a means of coercion, and, if it were possible by a method for instance
such as I have suggested above to obtain good evidence of cases of sales, it might
serve to compel the King to take really effective measures to stop them. Action on
these lines would, however, be much more effective if Dutch co-operation were secured
in respect of the Javanese pilgrims.
57. As regards Mr. Bullard’s proposal that there should be in the Sudan an
institution—under the control, perhaps, of some anti-slavery society or some
missionary organisation—to which slaves would be sent as a matter of course, I
think that such an institution might serve to attract a number of local slaves who
might otherwise remain in slavery, having misgivings about taking refuge owing to
the uncertainty of their future. I am inclined, however, to doubt whether its
ereation would appreciably affect the numbers of slaves who take refuge and do so
for the most part on account of bad treatment or for fear of it. It would certainly
be a good advertisement of manumission though, and within limits would do good.
Its utility would, however, be greatly enhanced if it gave an assurance of employment
and a secure future in reasonably good conditions.
58. The only radical solution of the whole question, however, lies with the
King and with the King only. I nless he himself cuts out the demand for slaves, the
supply will continue somehow. The various suggestions and recommendations made,
it adopted, would do little more than disturb the surface of the problem a little more
than at present without going deep. They affect the subject externally when drastic
internal treatment is required. It may be inferred from the King’s attitude in the
past that, if he had his own way, he would prefer to leave matters as they are. The
extension of his kingdom and the growth of his power has, however, brought him
into more direct and closer contact with foreign countries who condemn the practice
of slavery, and, whatever may have been his attitude in the past, he has to look to
the future, and he has everythang to gain by conciliating foreign opinion. It
remains to be considered how to make that opinion felt and what is the best line of
approach.
59. It would appear from the King's attitude during the recent negotiations
that, apart from any feelings of gratitude which he "may entertain for the
assistance received, he has come to realise that His Majesty's Government’s active
sympathy and co-operation are factors on which he will have to rely to consolidate
his kingdom and carry out a progressive policy. That he does not intend to rest on
his laurels, but intends to inaugurate reforms, is clear from many statements which
he and his Ministers have been making and from the tone of letters which he has
sent to individuals in Mecca and Jedda since the re-establishment of peace.
60. There may be a good opportunity, when the King returns and the first
chorus of popular adulation has subsided, for the newly-appointed British Minister