'Egyptian Claims to Sovereignty over the Somali Coast.' [‎3v] (6/62)

6
11. The Queen’s Advocate reported some few years back that, with
regard to the Somali coast (which would include Berbera), the
fact of the Sultan’s laying claim to it could hardly be con
sidered sufficient to justify his right of sovereignty over the
territory; that there was nothing to show he had ever occupied
any portion of the territory by his troops, nor was there any
proof that the various Chiefs paid him tribute (although this
is now denied by the Egyptian Government), but, on the con
trary, that these Chiefs considered themselves independent and
recognized no other sovereign ruler over them.
12. Berhera has always been considered by the authorities of Aden as
independent of either Turkish or Egyptian authority, and it
is very important to Aden that nothing should be done to deter
the Berbera people from bringing their live stock and other
goods to that fortress.
On the 12th May 1874, a further letter from the Resident at Aden
* Sir L. Mallet to Foreign Office, WaS Sent f^to the Foreign Office,* with
12th May 1874. a request that Lord Derby’s attention
n _ might be invited to the matter. The
Government ot India had, on two recent occasions, requested an expres
sion ot the policy of Her Majesty’s Government, and Lord Salisbury was
anxious, belore expressing any opinion, to learn what views were held by
Lord Derby on the question.
In reply, the 1 oreign Officef requested to be furnished with a com-
f From Foreign Office, 2nd June P rehen81ve statement, for COmmunica-
1874. tion to the Egyptian Government,
... i . . showing the precise nature of the treaty
relations subsisting between Great Britain and the Somali and other
tribes on the African coast of the Red Sea and Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb,
and the stipulations upon which it was considered desirable that Her
Majesty s Government should lay particular stress.
A memorandum was accordingly prepared by Colonel Burne, which
embodied the principal provisions of the various treaties, and has been
printed as an Appendix (A) to this abstract. This memorandum, with
others by Sir Bartle Erere and General Tremenheere, formerly Resident
at Aden, was sent to the Foreign Office on the 7th August 1874, in a
t Lord George Hamilton to Foreign letter «ie purport of which was as fol-
Office, 7th August 1874. iows. J Hie stipulations m the various
treaties which were especially favour
able to British interests, and which it would therefore be desirable to
retain, were, in the Tajourra Treaty (No. 97), Articles 2 and 3, involving
trade, with five per cent, duty with Tajourra and adjacent ports, and
unrestricted commerce; in the Zeyla Treaty (No. 98), Article 1 to the
same effect; in the Berbera Treaties, Article 2 in No. 99, iuvolvin o> free
trade with Berbera and other ports under the Habr Owul tribes, and
Articles 3 and 5 in No. 100, the first to the same effect, the second
securing the privilege of sending British Agents to Berbera durino* the
trading season to see that the provisions of the treaty are observed.
The treaty with Shoa was included in the memorandum, as bearing in
some measure on those entered into with Zeyla and Tajourra. There
were also certain bonds and articles of agreement with the Chiefs of
Mait and elsewhere, and those of the Habr Owul, affecting the slave
trade, which Lord Derby might consider it desirable to bring to the
notice of the Egyptian Government. Attention was also drawn to
Article 7 of Treaty XCVII. and Article 3 of Treaty XCVIIL, which
appealed to prohibit the Chiefs of Zeyla and Tajourra from entering into
any bond or treaty with European or other powers which might prove
detrimental or injurious to the interests of the British Government,
either in a political or commercial point of view, involving at the same