Page 269 - Gulf Precis (III)_Neat

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19. As regards the Persian ports, however, remonstrances from the Resident,
.i« Majesty1! Sec.,!, .1 state (or V}d the activ? ^-operation of the Persian
Attain in a letter to President, Board of C»nlr»l, olaVC UOmmiSSlOUerS, Supported by the
dat.d Maya. 1853, hiChly commemle I judicious- presence of OUr Vessels qf war and by the
ami ol Captain Kemball a proceedings on the *
Persian Coast. material aid derived from Her Majesty’s
Vide enclosure to Mr. Secretary Malet’s commu­ Mission at the Court of Persia, had been
nication to Captain Kemball, No. 197 of July
13. 1853. productive of much good. Numbers of
slaves had been manumitted. Numbers
of slave importers had been punished. The loam of Maskat, too, had paid
a willing deference to our appeals, and two of His Highness’ vessels had been
seized and sent to the Presidency for adjudication. But the ports of Oman,
from our inability to detach vessels at the proper season, and in sufficient numbers
to intercept their boats, and from our inability to claim slaves when they had
been landed, were revelling and glorying in their impunity.
20. Captain Kemball brought his important fact prominently to the notice of
Government in the month of January 1854, and earnestly begged that a remedy
might be applied.
“ He further expressed his opinion that ‘ a steamer cruizing principally under
Vide Capoin Kemball'i despatch No. 5 ol Janu- sail in the latitude of Makullali between
ary 12, 1845- the 15th March and 1st June, and attended
by a small vessel to keep the offing (for which purpose a schooner or a brig
might usually be detached from the Gulf squadron) would give such a blow to the
slave trade as still prosecuted by the Arab tribes as would go far towards its entire sup­
pression, or, at least, remove all grounds of complaint on the score of impunity.'
" If the vessels stationed at Aden could be spared to cruize in the same latitude
during the period named, it would, he thought, contribute much to the attainment of the
object desired,"
si. The Bombay Government, on receipt of Resident’s despatch, communi­
cated with the Political Agent at Aden, expressing its desire that “Captain
Kemball's suggestion should be complied with, if a vessel could be spared from
Vide Mr. Secretary Anderson’s letter No. 1093 that Station, and again WTOte tO the Com-
oi March 13. i3s4- mander-in*Chief, Indian Navy, with a
view to his detaching a vessel on slave service.
22. The reply received from the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy, was
forwarded by Government for the information of Captain Kemball, and its tenor
was indeed discouraging. Vessels were again preoccupied, and no reinforce­
ments could be spared for the repression of slave trade. Sir Henry Leeke’s
own words, when writing on the subject, were as follow
Extrict from a letter No. 437 of June 6. 1854. “ I have not the means of strengthening the
from Sir H. Leeke. R N., etc., to the Ri-^ht squadron either at Aden or in the Persian Gulf
Honourable Lord Elphinstona, G.C.H., etc., etc. as represented in my letter No. 406 of the agth
ultimo.
“ If I had plenty of vessels at my command, there can scarcely be a doubt that the
slave trade may be kept very much under, perhaps entirely abolished."
23. Nothing further transpired until the month of July 1855, when the Com-
mander-in-Chief, Indian Navy, despatched the Honourable Company’s steam
vessel Queen to cruize between Ras-el-Had and Maskat there to remain until the
1st of September, when she would be relieved by the corvette Falkland.
24. Instructions were also issued to the Resident to detach at the proper
Vide despatch from Mr. Secretary Andenon to Season SUCh vessels of the Persian Gulf
Captain Kemball, No. 3500 of August ao, 1855. squadron as could be spared without in­
convenience to the public service “ to cruise in localities where vessels with
slaves were likely to be intercepted ",
a$. Thus stood matters in the summer of 1855, a°d in the autumn of
the same year an exchange of appointments having, under the sanction of the
Home Authorities and the Government of India, been effected between the
Resident at Bushire and the Political Agent at Baghdad, Captain Kemball in
due course left for Baghdad, and Captain Felix Jones assumed charge of his new
post at Bushire.
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