Page 249 - Gulf Precis (III)_Neat

73
CHAPTER IX.
Some questions of practice of Courts,

(i) The ° Rokeby ” case, 1877.
164. The British S. S. Rokeby arrived at Bushire from Jedda on
the 13th March 1877. In consequence
Political A., Dacember 1879, N01. 131*153,
of information received Captain Prideaux,
then Officiating Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, ordered an officer attached
to the Residency to board the Rokeby, and to request the Captain to detain pend­
ing further orders any slaves found on board. In pursuance of these orders
the Residency official searched the Rokeby and reported the discovery of a
newly-imported male slave, alleged to belong to one Ka Nushad, a Persian
subject. His slave was given in charge to one Siyyed Ahmed, also a Persian
subject, and was landed by him at Bushire.
165. On receiving this information Captain Prideaux wrote to the Persian
Foreign Office Agent and obtained the slave whose name was Abdulla from him.
Captain Prideaux also communicated with Captain Clayton, Commanding
H. M. S. Rifleman, then lying in Bushire harbour, who deputed Lieute­
nant Hockin to search the Rokeby with the result that six female slaves,
together with another male slave by name Faraj, were discovered and seized,
and all seven were landed by order of Captain Clayton and made over to Captain
Prideaux.
166. On the following day Captain Prideaux held an enquiry into the case
with Captain Clayton, and was convinced " that the boys and girls were Gallas
and Abyssinians, newly imported into Jedda from the opposite Egyptian coast,
and sold there probably with the object of being resold on their arrival in Persia
or Turkey.
167. After this enquiry H. M. S. Rifleman sailed for Maskat leav­
ing the slaves in Captain Prideaux’s charge. It appears that this was an
accidental arrangement arrising from the fact of one of the slaves having had
small-pox ; otherwise the Rifleman would have taken them away. Maskat is the
nearest port to Bushire where there is a consular East African Court and on
arrival there Captain Clayton demanded adjudication of the slaves.
163. The proceedings before the Maskat Court will be found in enclosure
No. Ill of Colonel Ross's report ; the decision and order were as follows :—
u In Her Britannic Majesty's Consular Court at Maskat on the twenty-fifth day of
March one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Before Samuel Barret Miles, Colonel. Our Sovereign Lady the Queen against two male
and six female slaves seized by Captain Francis Starkie Clayton, Commauding H.
M. S. Rifleman, on the 13th day of March 1877.
Having read the proofs and heard the evidence in this case, it appears to me that the
said two male and six female slaves were being r.eld in slavery on board the British Ship
Rokeby contrary to law, and that the said eight slaves have been handed over to the
Political Resident at Bushire, and I therefore prouounce the said eight slaves to have been
lawfully seized ana to be forfeited to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, and I condemn the
same accordingly.
In witness whereof I have signed this decree, and caused my seal of office to be affixed
thereto this twenty-first day of March one thousand eight hundred and ieventy*seven.’'
169. It will be seen that while Captain Clayton had only seized seven slaves
the court dealt with eight slaves, thus including the boy Abdulla with the rest.
It will be convenient to mention here the subsequent disposal of these eight
slaves. Of the six women, one died, and the remaining five were on their own
request sent to Basra where they rejoined the persons who claimed them. With
regard to the boy Abdulla who belonged to a Persian subject correspondence
passed between the Resident at Bushire, Her Majesty's Minister at Tehran, and
the Persian authorities, and in accordance with Mr. Thomson’s suggestion Abdulla
was deported to Bombay. The other boy, Faraj, was also sent to Bombay,
but his restoration was claimed by one Haji Yusuf, a Turkish subject. The fact
C643FD

ik.