Governor of Kilwa has done his duty, and laid hands, as he was ordered, on those actively engaged in the Slave Trade. The slave-dealers, you will find, believe that final orders will be given to put an end to the land traffic, their last resource, and are quite prepared to yield. Now I would venture to submit to your Highness' very serious consideration whether at the present time, when you hold such ample proof of the manner in which your subjects at Pemba persistently set aside your authority and employ agents who do not hesitate to fire on and attempt to murder our officers and men that they may convey slaves by sea, thus giving your enemies ground for remark and your friends just cause for complaint, it would not be politic for your Highness to do in a public manner, by Proclamation, all that the slave-dealers believe you are doing, and to prohibit the conveyance of slaves by land under pain of severe punishment to those engaged, and forfeiture of slaves and property. A further order to prohibit the approach of slave-caravans from the interior, from Nyassa and elsewhere under similar penalties, would, I feel satisfied, put an end to the constant breach of Treaty by your subjects, which has now become a matter of such magnitude that Her Majesty's Government have fully determined to interfere. In offering this advice I can promise the full support of the British authorities and of the Government, and assure your Highness at the same time that your own good faith and earnest wish to do all that has been asked is a matter that has been often brought before Lord Derby in my Reports, and that Her Majesty's Government are fully aware of the difficult and delicate position you yourself occupy, and, whilst determined to put an end to these contraventions of the Treaty, will support your authority in taking the steps necessary thereto. I have, &c., The Sultan of Zanzibar. JOHN KIRK. (Inclosure 2.)-Salim bin Suliman to Homaid bin Saeed and Suliman bin Khalfan. (After compliments.) . (Translation.) THIS letter comes from the harbour of Tanga; and, my dear friend, if you ask about Saaed Burgash, I tell you His Highness has stopped the buying and selling of slaves at Kilwa and Bagamoyo, and imprisoned the dealers in irons; this is the news, and at Bagamoyo the agents are sending back their money. [NOTE.-Then follows reference to Slave Orders for the above parties-partly illegible.] (Inclosure 3.)-Proclamation: Draft No. 1. (Inclosure 4.)-Proclamation: Draft No. 2. No. 279.-Dr. Kirk to the Earl of Derby.—(Received June 6.) MY LORD, Zanzibar, April 26, 1876. It will be remembered that before setting out last year to accompany Saeed Burgash to Europe I had the honour to report that His Highness had freed his domestics and household slaves by a posthumous deed of manumission. Freeing slaves on the death of the master is an act well known in the Mohammedan Code and strictly regulated by its provisions, and, as a consequence of one of these, the intention of the master may be partly frustrated should he leave either an embarrassed estate, or where the value of the slaves to be freed under such a deed is more than one-third the total realized assets, for a fundamental principle of Mohammedan law is that no one may alienate by will or other instrument having effect after death more than one-third of his estate, the remainder being disposed of according to the Mohammedan succession laws. Influenced by this, and desirous of setting an example to his people, His Highness has now freed his household slaves, giving them their deeds of freedom, drawn up by the Kathi and countersigned and sealed by me. Thus His Highness from master becomes as regards these people what is called the "manla," or guardian. He has henceforth no power to enforce their services or to detain them unwillingly, and neither he nor his heirs can take the property of these freed slaves, as they could otherwise have done. The children of these people also are free, and inherit from their father or heirs. The property of the deceased slave goes to the master, the slave having in the eye of the law no independent existence. Although I have little doubt Saeed Burgash's domestics will continue to serve him (since he became Sultan he has given them, even as slaves, regular wages), their position is totally altered; and although few of his people may copy his example, yet such an act as this on the part of a Ruler has an influence in forming public opinion on the great question of slavery. Although a private act, I have thought it worthy of mention to your Lordship, coming as it now does with others of a public nature that indicate His Highness' feeling on slavery. I have, &c., The Earl of Derby. JOHN KIRK. by jour Corse of her the bupreson of zie au Save Infe diarę kore The tontour to forwart exques tể que zwi ZrvemmazonS E ↑ ay umat la sky) ng the aut de sente mut the fring nut of Budkiváló ezpetitivna for the interne Game Z.3 at hon. I regerat, for perusal. the Sultan's emers a mukha vašim sa the fron entoure on the out howwing me PuRamamish, wah wa hatima z trazavation the grouar letter aistressed My Yak yr Kiyu dan kitkortika, and that to the Governor of Kiva. I mau nane emper of the notification prosed m Ambie, wan an Kang, með 3wan.li trane.ation, the latter in the native einracter parkleind Wy all dames, for distribution on the coast, and in the bulanor on the line of caravan-routes, and I shail take care that Mr. Young, now established on Lake Nyassa, is made aware that the klase-dealer who scour that country are liable to imprisonment, and to the confiscation of their slaves. Your Landahip is aware that, through the preliminary action taken in this matter by me, the Slave Trade had been driven into the hands of Araba of the lowest class, foreigners to Zanzibar, whose business it was to convey slaves from Kilwa by land, purchased with money obtained in Pemba or Lamo, and deliver them to their employers. 4hese men, who, knowing the consequences in case of detection, did not hesitate to fire on our boats when escape of their slave-cargo became otherwise hopeless, are not likely tamely to submit and give up their slaves to the miserable soldiery of Saeed Burgash, or the authority of his Governors; and as I shall now take even greater pains than before to be informed, and so force the local authorities to act, collisions on the coast are therefore almost certain. I have therefore renewed your Lordship's assurances of assistance and support from the British authorities, should the steps His Highness has taken make them necessary, and I shall see that your Lordship's assurances are carried into effect. Hitherto His Highness has been safe against any wide combination, notwithstanding the unpopularity that attends an empty exchequer, by fair administration of justice under his rule; but the successive steps he has taken, first in abolishing slavery in the north, and now forbidding the acquisition of new slaves, everywhere have placed him in individual antagonism to all his people, and in disfavour with the foreign merchants. The Earl of Derby. JOHN KIRK. (Inclosure 1.)-Circular Letter to the Zanzibar Governors on the Coast, forwarding Proclamations. (Translation.) To the Governor of (After compliments.) I SEND you a Proclamation which you will see posted at the Custom-house, and you will stop the arrival of slaves at your place and at all villages in its vicinity, and whosoever transgresses this our order you will imprison and take possession of his slaves, informing us thereof. Dated the 24th Rabea el Awal, 1293 (20th April, 1876). This is from Burgash bin Saeed and written with his own hand. (Inclosure 2.)—Letter forwarding two Proclamations addressed to the Governor of Kilwa. (Translation.) (After compliments.) I SEND you two Proclamations, which you will see posted at the Custom-house, and you will prevent the fitting out, departure, and return of slave-caravans from and at Kilwa and all the places in its neighbourhood, and any one acting in disobedience to our orders you will imprison and seize his slaves, reporting to us your proceedings. Dated 24th Rabea el Awal, 1293 (20th April, 1876). This is from Burgash bin Saeed and written by his own hand. (Inclosure 3.)-Proclamations of the Sultan of Zanzibar, suppressing the Inland Slave Trade.-April 18, 1876. (Translation.) In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. (Seal of His Highness Saeed Burgash.) From Burgash bin Saeed bin Sultan. To all whom it may concern of our friends on the mainland of Africa, the Island of Pemba, and elsewhere. WHEREAS, in disobedience of our orders, and in violation of the terms of our Treaties with Great Britain, slaves are being constantly conveyed by land from Kilwa for the purpose of being taken to the Island of Pemba: Be it known that we have determined to stop, and by this order do prohibit all conveyance of slaves by land under any conditions; and we have instructed our Governors on the coast to seize and imprison those found disobeying this order and to confiscate their slaves. Published the 22nd of Rabea el Awal, 1293 (being equivalent to 18th April, 1876). (Translation.) (Inclosure 4.)-Proclamation. In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. (Seal of His Highness Saeed Barghash.) From Burgash bin Saeed bin Sultan. To all whom it may concern of our friends on the mainland of Africa and elsewhere. WHEREAS slaves are being brought down from the lands of Nyassa, of the Yao, and other parts, to the coast, and there sold to dealers, who take them to Pemba, against our orders and the terms of the Treaties with Great Britain: Be it known that we forbid the arrival of slave-caravans from the interior, and the fitting out of slave-caravans by our subjects, and have given our orders to our Governors accordingly, and all slaves arriving at the coast will be confiscated. Published the 22nd of Rabea el Awal, 1293 (being equivalent to 18th April, 1876). No. 284.-Dr. Kirk to the Earl of Derby.-(Received June 6.) MY LORD, Zanzibar, May 4, 1876. As my assistance has been asked by the German Consul here to induce the Sultan to punish a Somali who assaulted a German merchant at Merka in the Benadir, and as it is possible the matter may be referred to Berlin and eventually come before your Lordship, I have the honour to state that while a Danish schooner, chartered by the Hamburg house of Hansing and Co., was at anchor on the roadstead at Merka loading with produce, two Germans, one a son of Mr. Hansing, and Mr. Woolfhart, the resident agent of the house in the Benadir, were on the beach shipping goods, a Somali came behind the latter and cut at his head with a heavy sword, inflicting a wound on the skull that, but for the thick hat he wore, would have been fatal. Mr. Hansing, junior, with the aid of natives, secured the wouldbe murderer, who was sent in the Danish schooner, in charge of the Sultan's soldiers, to Zanzibar, and made over to the Sultan. From what I have seen of the depositions, there seems no doubt the Somali intended to kill Mr. Woolf hart, for no other cause than being a Christian and a white man. His father and grandfather, he is reported to have said, had killed white men, and he should do the same if he ever had the chance. He belongs to some very distant tribe, and is an utter stranger to the Bimal and other Somalis near Merka, and they, it seems, all agree in denouncing his act. Who he is or where he really comes from seems unknown; but the Sultan, one of whose weak points is a want of firmness in |