سياسي رقم ٢٢١ لسنة ١٨٧٤، تحيل نسخة من إحدى رسائل القائم بأعمال الوكيل السياسي والقنصل العام في زنجبار بخصوص وضع "المواطنين الهنود"، بالإضافة إلى نسخة من الرد [و‎‎٥‎٧‎٧] (٢٤/٥)

1
Enclosure No. 1.
No. 103, dated Zanzibar, 12th Sej)tember 1874.
From—Her Majesty's Political Agent and Consul-General, Zanzibar,
To—Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
In roy letter No. 96 of the 27th August 1874 I had the honor to acknow
ledge the receipt of your despatch No. 1464P., with its enclosures, and to
request that the issue of final instructions upon the subject of the status of
natives of India at Zanzibar might he deferred until I had had an opportunity of
submitting certain questions for the consideration of the Government of India.
2. It would be presumptuous in me to attempt to dispute the general
truth of the propositions laid down by the Hon’ble Mr. Hobhouse in paragraph
21 of his Minute, dated the 24th June last, which, it is suggested, should form
the basis of the instructions to be issued for the guidance of Her Majesty’s
Consul-General at Zanzibar. On the contrary, I would venture to express the
hope that, on the grounds of humanity, of policy, and of convenience, these
propositions may, with some slight modifications, meet with the concurrence of
Her Majesty’s Government. My sole object in row addressing you, therefore,
is to point out a few matters of detail, which, if the propositions were adopted
in their integrity, might, in my opinion, afford matter of dispute between the
Sultan of Zanzibar, or the representatives of France, or other foreign powers,
and ourselves.
3. Had the policy pursued by successive British Agents been throughout
of a uniform nature, and the true position of the subjects of protected Indian
States been clearly defined from the commencement of our official connexion
with Zanzibar, the question would have been settled long ago. The fact that it
is still a matter of discussion is probably to be accounted for on the ground of
no very strict line of delimitation between the functions of the Consul and
those of the Political Agent having fever been marked out, the result being a
retrogression in our policy on the slavery question during several years.
4. The propositions enunciated by the Hon’ble Mr. Hobhouse may be
conveniently classed into two divisions: (a) to (d) on the jurisdiction of the
Crown over natives of India as between the British and Zanzibar Governments,
respectively, forming the first group; and (<?) to (g) on the same jurisdiction
as between the British and the French or other Foreign Governments forming
the second; (h) being of general application.
5. On the former of these groups I would observe that a very large num
ber of Hindoo and Mahomedan traders from Kutch and elsewhere' in India were
settled in Zanzibar many years before the English acquired any interest, com
mercial or political, in the place. The head of the principal Bhatia house here,
that of Wad Bhima, is fifth in descent from the founder of the Zanzibar firm;
and several Khojas can show a still longer ancestry. These Indians were
under the undisputed rule of the Muscat authorities until, apparently, the year
1845, or five years after the appointment of a British Agent and Consul, when
they began to claim British protection; and the question was referred by His
late Highness Sayyid Saeed for the decision of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, the late Earl of Aberdeen.
6. His Highness states the question in his letter (of which only a French
translation was forwarded to this Office) in the following manner
“ Main tenant j’ai a vous informer que nombre d’individus natifs des Indes
sont etablis a Zanzibar que depuis 10 ans, que depuis 15, et meme de 20 ans,
lesquels sont en families et beaucoup d’enfans sont nes ici; ces gens possedent
des 1 biens et des maisons, et leur condition est depuis d’ancien temps sembla-
ble a celle des autres Arabes, ou done ces peuplades sont elles sous le jurisdic
tion des Arabes, comme il en est dans les autres pays ou elles voyagent, ou bien
emi* mtlle de Consul ? H en est de meme que pour les Bagas (sic ? Khojas) de
Zw£ habitants de Kesh (? Kuch).