'The Slave Trade of East Africa.' [‎89] (98/108)

89
as the depdt for the slaves captured in the south, but that those also
captured in the north should ultimately be brought there._
" In the preliminary arrangements for this purpose which will have
to be made with the Sultan of Zanzibar, the probable effects of this
measure upon the prosperity of the island should be pointed out to him,
and the greatest care should be taken to provide efficient protection
for the freed slaves, and to prevent their being ill-used by their
employers, or kidnapped by the slave-dealers. They should be under
the special protection of her Majesty's Consul, although amenable to
the laws of Zanzibar; a register should be kept of them at the British
Consulate; they should be provided with printed certificates ot tree-
dom ; and, as we have aheady suggested, the Sultan should declare
his intention to punish severely any attempt to molest them.
The italics are ours. Some expense, they virtually say, must
be incurred, no doubt, but pray excuse us fiom the cost
of maintaining these poor creatures. Again, although upon
this point the Report of the Committee can hardly be regarded
as satisfactory, they made several very important and obviously
necessary recommendations, such as increasing the consular
staff at Zanzibar, strengthening the naval force employed m
the suppression of the trade, and appointing agents on the
coast to control the traffic. Lord Granville, in writing to
Dr. Kirk, on the 17th March, 1871, concludes as follows
" I have nothing to add to the instructions that I sent to you on the
10th instant. I will only add that, in consequence of a recent decision
of the Treasury, no additional expense can be incurred for the present,
as proposed in the Eeport of the Committee, in increasing the statt_ oi
the Agencv at Zanzibar, or the naval force employed in the suppression
of the slave-trade on the East Coast, or in appointing Consular Agents
along the coast to control the traffic within the limits to be regulated
by treaty."
Nay, so far did the matter go, that, as appears from the
Report of the Commons' Committee, a proposal to divide be
tween the Indian and Imperial Exchequer the cost of main
taining the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and Consulate at Zanzibar, in which the
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. concurred, was negatived by the Treasury, the
consequence of which was, that the Secretary of State for
India in Council had informed the Secretary of State for I oreign
Affairs that the Foreign Office would no longer be privi
leged to send any more instructions to the Zanzibar Agent,
and the whole matter, therefore, was brought to a deadlock.