Page 195 - Gulf Precis (III)_Neat

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jrrf.—Constant supervision.
A proclamation to be published in the Arabic and Guzreathi on the ist January
of every year setting forth the inability of the British protected subjects and
all natives of India to buy or hold slaves.
4th.—The above duties to be exercised at Zanzibar, and over 1,000 miles of Coast
will require an augmentation of the Consular establishment.
5. The following orders were then passed and proclamations issued with
regard to British Indian subjects:—
The following Resolution of the Government of India is published for general infor­
mation
No. 1288.
FOREIGN DEPARTMENT.
Political.
Simla, the ijth June 1873.
Resolution.—Read the following letters, dated 15th of May 1873, from Her Majes­
ty’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India,
and to the Political Agent at Zanzibar, respectively
“ To the Duke of Argyll, Kt.,
“ My Loro Duke,—The reports of Sir TT. Bartle Frere having established beyond
all question that great numbers of Her Majesty's Indian subjects are more or less directly
implicated in the Slave Trade, it has been my duty, in obedience to Her Majesty's Com­
mands, to send to Her Majesty's Consul at Zanzibar the instructions, of which I enclose a
copy, directing him, under the powers vested in him by Order in Council, to adopt the most
decided measures for the apprehension and punishment of any subjects of Her Majesty
directly or indirectly engaged in the Slave Trade.
“ In pursuance of this instruction Her Majesty's Consul may be expected to send to
Bombay for trial, before the High Court of that Presidency, subjects of Her Majesty who
may be brought before him charged with such offences ; and I have the honour to request
that Your Grace will communicate a copy of my instruction to the Viceroy of India, to the
intent that His Excellency may apprise the Governor of Bombay thereof, and direct him
to co-operate in carrying out the determination of Her Majesty to spare no pains to relieve
the British name from the stigma which now unfortunately attaches to it by reason of
the large participation of British subjects in the East African Slave Trade.
“ It will be for the Viceroy of India to consider whether, as it is supposed that the
British subjects carrying on this trade on the East Coast of Africa are in communication
with parties in Her Majesty's Indian Dominions, some public notice such as Her Majesty's
Consul is directed to issue might not conveniently be published in India.
“ I have, &c.,
« (Signed) GRANVILLE.”
*• To Dr. Kirk,
“ SlR,—The reports made by Sir Bartle Frere of the results of his investigation
into the state of the Slave Trade in the Dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar establish
the complicity of British subiects in that nefarious traffic, and impose upon Her Majesty'"
Government the obligation to use the utmost endeavours to relieve the British name from
the scandal and disgrace which their unlawful practices bring upon it.
** I have, therefore, to direct your particular attention to the \6th and 23rd Clauses
of the Order in Council of the 4th of November 1867*, by which you are empowered to
deal with British subjects engaged in, or being accessory to, the purchase or sale of
slaves, or having slaves illegally in their possession ; and I have to enjoin you to cause
all such British subjects, against whom you can obtain sufficient evidence as haying been
engaged in such practices, to be brought before you, and thereupon to deal with them
according to the powers vested in you by the Order in Council.
u I send you. herewith, copies of the Acts of Parliament now in force, defining the
crime jof slave-dealing and the punishment to which British subjects engaged in it are
made liable.
“ The crime itself is of so serious a character, and the punishments to which persons
convicted of it are amenable are so severe, that it may probably be desirable in the majori­
ty of cases to remit the parties accused for trial in the High Court of Bombay; but, in
regard to this, much must be left to your discretion.
• Note that the Order in Council in force in Zansibar dominions at this time was that of 9th August 18661
while the C)rder in Council ol 9th November 1867 applies only to Maskat dominions (Aitchison'a Treaties, Volume

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