'The Slave Trade of East Africa.' [‎11] (20/108)

11
But while this happy result is chronicled concerning the old
Atlantic Slave Trade ? the conviction has been gradually
forced upon the public mind that a very different state of
things prevails on the East Coast. The annual reports of our
Consul at Zanzibar ? and the despatches of the naval officers in
command of the few vessels which form the East African
Squadron have for some time told a very different story.
These reports and despatches, which are annually presented to
Parliament, furnished particulars of the trade in negro slaves,
carried on between the East African Coast and ports on the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the Southern shores of Arabia and Persia, and
the Red Sea.
It is proposed, in the following pages, to examine into
the circumstances of this slave trade, to recapitulate the
measures hitherto adopted for its suppression, and to show,
from the results arrived at on the West Coast, that the
method adopted by England in dealing with the old West
African Slave Trade has been abundantly successful in every
respect, and may be followed with like results in dealing with
the East African trade.
It was in the year 1822 that the attention of the British
Government was first called to the traffic in negro slaves carried on
nominally between the African and Persian dominions of the then
Imaum of Muscat, but in reality between his African dominions
and the very ports on the Red Sea and Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to which
the slaves are now carried. The dominions of the Imaum at
that time comprised the petty state of Muscat, on the Southern
shore of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and a large portion of the African
coast, extending from Cape Delgado, at about 11° South
Latitude, to a port called Jubb, about 1 Q South of the
Equator, including the large and important islands of Zanzibar,
Pemba, and Monfia. The British Government, while declaring
its intention of suppressing foreign slave trading, refused to
meddle with slavery as a domestic institution, and accordingly,
in the case of the Imaum of Muscat, determined to permit the
slave trade between port and port in his own dominions; and
a treaty to this effect was arranged between our Government
and the Imaum. This treaty, dated 10th September, 1822 ?