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'Slave-dealing and Slave-holding by Kutchees in Zanzibar' [‎116r] (20/63)

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The record is made up of 1 file (28 folios). It was created in 1870. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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17
act on the part of His Highness, a portrait of the Queen should be presented to
him by the British Government, I transmit to you
• LettOT from Foreign Office herewith, for the information of Your Excellency's
to Kr from India oV w Go'erament, a copy of correspondence* with the
Foreign Office, 6th June 1867. Foreign Office on the subject of the proposed gift,
from which my views will be gathered. I have no
intimation of the course which Lord Stanley purposes to pursue.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) Stafford H. Northcote.
Extract Bombay Political Consultation, 31st March 1868.
No. 2144.
No. 399/84 of 1867.
Political Department.
Henry A. Churchill , Esq., C .B., Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. and Her Majesty's Consul,
Zanzibar, to C. Gonne , Esq., Secretary to the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. .
Sj r> 22d December 1867.
In a Despatch addressed by the Right Hon. Lord Stanley to Dr. Seward,
of which I beg leave to transmit to you a copy, for the information of the Right
Honourable the Governor in Council, I am requested to inform Her Majesty's
Government " whether any of Her Majesty's Indian subjects in Zanzibar are in the,
" habit of holding slaves," and am told that " it would be satisfactory to know that
« the steps taken by Colonel Rigby, in releasing a large number of slaves held in
" bondage by British Indian subjects, have proved effective, to prevent a con-
« tinuance of the abuse by Her Majesty's Indian subjects of British laws for the
" suppression of the slave trade."
2. Already, on my arrival at Zanzibar, I had learnt, with no little concern, the
fact that, although Colonel Rigby had succeeded in emancipating all the slaves in
the possession of the natives of India established in the dominions of the Sultan
of Zanzibar, upwards of one thousand two hundred slaves were still held in
bondage by natives of that country, and that they enjoyed this privilege because
they were under the protection of His Highness Seyd Majid. It struck me as
being a circumstance worthy of notice that the Sultan should call himself the
best friend of the British Government, and yet assist natives of India, by the
protection he extended to them, in frustrating the efforts of the British Govern
ment to put a stop to the slave trade, and I did not fail to draw His Highness's
attention to this anomaly. I told His Highness that it was a matter of much
importance that the existence of this state of things should cease, and that I
should soon do myself the honour to speak to him seriously on the subject;
but, from His Highness's evasive reply, I felt that he was not over anxious
to discuss the question with me, and as I was desirous, on my part, to read up
the instructions, and see how far I should be borne out by Government in pro
moting the liberation of the said slaves, I was not sorry to put off, for a while,
the discussion.
3. I learnt, from an attentive perusal of the instructions,—
1st. That, up to Colonel Rigby's departure from Zanzibar, no native of India
had dared to possess a slave, after the sweeping emancipation pro
secuted by that energetic Officer.
2d. That Colonel Rigby had received the approval of Government in all his
proceedings with regard to the slave trade and the emancipation of the
slaves above alluded to.
3d. That it was after Colonel Rigby's departure that natives of India were
allowed to plaCe themselves under the Sultan's protection.
From other sources I ascertained that the natives of India under the Sultan's
protection, in whose country domestic slavery had ceased to exist for a con-
11532. E

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Content

This file contains a selection of correspondence, extracts and reports regarding the involvement of British subjects from the Princely State of Kutch [Cutch] in the slave trade in Zanzibar and attempts by the British Government to end this involvement.

Much of the correspondence is from Britain's Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Zanzibar, Henry Adrian Churchill and Britain's Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Kutch, Major Alexander Young Shortt. This includes translated copies of correspondence between Churchill and the Sultan of Zanzibar, Seyd [Sayyid] Majid bin Said.

On folio 128, the file contains a proclamation issued by the ruler of Kutch, the Maharaja Dhiraj Mirza Maha Rao Shree Praguruljee, that warns his subjects in Kutch of the penalties of being engaged in the slave trade in general and specifically in Zanzibar.

Extent and format
1 file (28 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged in rough chronological order.

A contents page is included on folio 108.

Physical characteristics

Condition: the file is contained within a bound volume that contains a number of other files.

Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at f 107, and terminates at f 134, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 5-134; these numbers are written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'Slave-dealing and Slave-holding by Kutchees in Zanzibar' [‎116r] (20/63), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B90, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023800070.0x000015> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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