'Memorandum on Expenses of Zanzibar Consulate, &c.' [‎73v] (2/14)

Upon receipt of this letter, Lord Clarendon put
himself in communication with the Lords Commis
sioners of the Treasury, stating,—
*<***1 desire to acquaint your Lordships ,
that I have approved, with one exception, all the
measures more immediately concerning this De
partment which the Slave Trade Committee have
proposed. They involve important reforms which
it will be the duty of Her Majesty’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.
to propose to the Sultan, and I consider it very
important that these negotiations and the general
direction of slave trade questions on the Last
African coast should in future rest entirely with
this Department, to prevent the risk of complica
tions and conflicting orders, which have already
arisen from the present system of divided superin
tendence.
“ The Secretary of State for India has concurred,
in the letter of which I enclose copy, in this pro
posal, but the Government of India would naturally
object, so long as they alone bear the expenses of
the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , to my assuming the control and direc
tion of their Agent in matters relating to the slave
trade.
“ I would also remind your Lordships that the
Slave Trade Vote will be considerably reduced by
the abolition of three of the Mixed Commission
Courts, and I hope before long to be able still
further to relieve the vote by doing away with the
rest of these Courts.
“ The proposed charge will be of a temporary
nature, and will cease when the slave trade is sup
pressed on the East Coast, and the measures which
are to be proposed to the Sultan will, I hope, lead
to the gradual extinction of the slave traffic, and
relieve the public from the heavy expense of main
taining a large naval force to keep it in check.
“ Moreover, as it is proposed to invite the Go
vernment of India to assist in providing the extra
force which is required on the East Coast, it seems
only just that the Imperial Government should
undertake a fair proportion of the expenses involved
by the slave trade there.
“ For these reasons I venture to recommend
most strongly that your Lordships will give the
necessary authority for charging the moiety of the
expenses of the Zanzibar Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. to the Slave
Trade Vote, on the understanding that this charge
will cease with the extinction of the slave trade in .
the Sultan’s dominions, and your Lordships will
perhaps be good enough to acquaint me with your
decision as soon as possible, as Mr. Churchill leaves
for Zanzibar early next month.”
Later in the same year, the Foreign Office asked
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. for an account of the expenses of
the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , including the proposed increase, in
order that it might be submitted to the Treasury
with the view of obtaining their sanction to the
See Letter from
Foreign Office to
Treasury, 28th
May 1870, p. 225
Secret Home Cor
respondence, May
to December 1870.
Letter from
Foreign Office,
10th Nov. 1870.