Page 262 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

220 MUSK AT.

concession was more than could justly be expected of him. The iraflio
in slaves, he said, was a lucrative one, and without full compensation
he could not dream of prohibiting it. He was informed in reply that
Her Britannic Majesty was well aware of the sacrifice he would make
by the adoption of Her Majesty’s views, and was ready, in the event of
His Highness’ concurrence in the abolition, to afford him any pecuniary
concession he might solicit in reason. This announcement had the
desired effect. His Highness look up his position firmly, and at once
declared his willingness to concede the point, should Her Majesty, by
way of return, think fit to place in his possession the fertile island of
Bahrein. This of course could not be done, and he was informed
accordingly. I am not aware of the nature of the discussions that
ensued; the treaty, however, was concluded on the 2nd of October 1S45,
and an Act of Parliament for giving effect to its provisions was passed
on the 5th of September 1848.
Scarcely a year* had passed, before news reached the Resident of a
gross case of infraction of the engagement,—that, too, by the represen­
tative of His Highness at Muskat, his own son, Syud Soweynee. The
circumstances attending the case were these : in the month of
November 1847 a vessel laden with slaves from Ilodeidah reach-
ed Mirbat. At Mirbat the slaves, twelve in number, Abyssinians, were
transferred from the ship into a Budun (small boat), and thence
conveyed to Muskat, where, in the dead of night, to escape the
observation of any British cruisers that might be in the vicinity, they
were disembarked. On being landed, their owner openly exposed
them for sale, and His Excellency Syud Soweynee, notwithstanding
the sacred engagement so lately entered into, became a purchaser
of three of their number. The British Agent at that port very properly
addressed His Excellency on the subject, and animadverted in his
letter on the injustice of the proceeding. His Excellency absolved
himself from all blame in the transaction by urging and insisting
that “ no prohibition to the purchase and sale of Abyssinian slaves
existed in the treaty” ; that it only referred to traffic in Negroes and
Somalees. It was also ascertained that His Excellency was highly
wroth with the British Agent for daring to interfere in the matter; and
although he abstained from showing his anger to him personally, that
the expressions he made use of when speaking of him to others were
most abusive and violent. The case was represented to the Bombay
Government, who, through Captain Hamerton, its Agent, desired t lat
His Highness the Imaum would acquaint his son Syud Soweynee
that traffic in slaves of any description whatsoever, be they i eDroe^,
January 1st, 1847, and
* Not quite a year, for the agreement commenced to take effect on
the sale of slaves took place in November 1847-