Page 314 - UAE Truncal States
P. 314

The External /n/lucnccs

         Capturing, transporting, selling and owning slaves had been as
         profitable an enterprise for many British individuals as it had been
         for other Europeans and for Arabs, Turks and Africans. But during
         the 18th century the growing moral indignation, fanned by reports of
         the terrible sufferings endured particularly by the people captured
         and transported to the American continent, led to the outlawing of
         slavery in the British Isles. Against many vested interests, the legal
         campaigning proceeded until in 1838 proprietary rights in slaves
         were abolished throughout the British dominions. The Government
         of India, too, had to support the anti-slavery cause, and tried to
         persuade the rulers of the littoral Stales of the Indian Ocean and
         the Gulf to abandon slavery voluntarily.34 In Arabia the Africans
         contributed a necessary source of labour. When slavery was out­
         lawed, the consequences were not only felt by the entrepreneurs who
         had profited from transporting slaves on their ships and selling them
         at an Arab port, but were also obvious in the fast decline of
         agricultural output in Oman, where the area under irrigation and
         cultivation was reduced considerably during the 19lh century partly
         because of the growing labour shortage.
           The age-old institution of slavery is treated as a fact of life in the
         Koran; it does not advocate it and it does not outlaw it. But people in
         Arabia were aware of the need for a Muslim to observe many rules in
         his relationship with a slave, and it was considered a deed worthy of
         merit to free a slave or to assist him to buy his freedom. It was
         therefore not too difficult for the British authorities to obtain support,
         if not enthusiasm, for their anti-slavery regulations.
           The earliest example of an attempt on the part of the British to curb
         slavery, Article 9 of the General Treaty of 1820, did not. however,
         spur the Government of India into action against violators of the
         article. But soon afterwards, in 1822, a treaty was concluded with
         Sultan Sa'Id of Muscat,35 which forbade the selling of slaves to
         Christian nations. The Government of India intended to enforce this
         treaty and they obtained the agreement of the Sultan to place an
         agent on the East African coast who could monitor the adherence of
         Omani shipowners to the treaty. The authorities in India continued
         to concentrate their anti-slavery efforts on Oman,36 concluding
         several further agreements, and tried also to persuade the other
         littoral States of the Gulf to sign similar agreements.
           In 1838/39 the Trucial Rulers conceded to British Government
         vessels the right to detain and search at sea ships from their ports
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