A letter from the Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Secretary to the Bombay Government, dated March 10, 1842.

A memorandum by the Secretary to the Bombay Government, on the engagements of the rulers of Muscat, Scinde, and Cutch, with respect to the Slave Trade.

A minute by the Governor of Bombay; and

A letter addressed by the Secretary of the Bombay Government to the Secretary of the Governor-General, May 19.

Viscount Canning.

I am, &c.

W. W. BARING.

(Inclosure 9.)-Memorandum by the Secretary to Government in the

Secret Department.

April 25, 1842.

THE following are the 3 Articles which His Highness the Imaum of Muscat consented, on the 17th December, 1839, to being added to the Treaty concluded with His Highness by Captain Moresby, under date the 29th August, 1822, prohibiting any traffic in slaves being carried on by sea, within certain limits in His Highness's territories.

"I agree that the following Articles be added to the above Treaty, concluded by Captain Moresby on the aforesaid date:

"1st. That the Government cruizers, whenever they may meet any vessel belonging to my subjects beyond a direct line drawn from Cape Delgado, passing 2 degrees seaward of the island of Socotra, and ending at Pussein, and shall suspect that such vessel is engaged in the Slave Trade, the said cruizers are permitted to detain and search it.

2nd. Should it on examination be found that any vessel belonging to my subjects is found carrying slaves, whether men, women, or children, for sale, beyond the aforesaid line, then the Government craizers shall seize and confiscate such vessel and her cargo. But if the said vessel shall pass beyond the aforesaid line owing to stress of weather, or other case of necessity not under control, then she shall not be seized.

“3rd. As the selling of males and females, whether grown up or young, who are "hoor" or free, is contrary to the Mahomedan religion, and whereas the Soomalees are included in the "hoor" or free, I do hereby agree, that the sale of males and females, whether young or old, of the Soomalee tribe, shall be considered as piracy, and that, 4 months from this date, all those of my people convicted of being concerned in such an act shall be punished as pirates."

2. By these additional Articles the Imaum of Muscat has authorized the right of search, and extended the boundary line laid down in Captain Moresby's Treaty, from Diu Head to Pussein, the eastern

extremity of the territories of His Highness on the coast of Mukran, thus including the coast of Catteewar, Cutch, Kurrachee, and upwards of 4 degrees westward in the limits within which the subjects of Muscat are now forbidden to carry on the Slave Trade.

3. With reference to the 5th paragraph of Lieutenant-Colonel Robertson's letter, I beg to state that there is no Treaty or engagement in existence between the British Government and the Ameers of Scinde, prohibitory of the Slave Trade being carried on in their dominions, or by their subjects. His Highness the Rajah of Cutch has, however, forbidden this traffic being carried on in his dominions, and on the 6th February, 1836, His Highness issued the following proclamation on the subject:

"Be it known to the principal merchants of Mandaric, and every other merchant as well as trader in Cutch, whether belonging to it or only trading thereto, to all navigators of vessels and to the inhabitants of Cutch generally, that if any slaves, Negroes or Abyssinians, shall be brought for sale to any seaport after the middle of July next (1836), the vessel conveying them shall be confiscated, and its cargo shall become the property of this Government. No petition for its restoration shall be listened to; and further, the offenders shall be brought to condign punishment, whether they belong to Cutch or to another country. There will be no departure from this resolution; a vessel which brings slaves shall be seized, and summary punishment inflicted on those who navigate her.

"The British Government have made arrangements to suppress the trade in slaves throughout the adjacent countries, and it has instructed the officers commanding its ships to seize and retain all vessels bringing slaves; I therefore strictly prohibit, after the date. before mentioned, (middle of July, 1836,) any more slaves being brought into this country. Let all my subjects discontinue this custom and take heed of this proclamation, and look to their interests and welfare by attending to it."

J. P. WILLOUGHBY.

(Inclosure 10.)-Sir Charles Forbes to the Earl of Aberdeen. MY LORD, Fitzroy Square, November 24, 1842. I WILL not apologize for addressing your Lordship on this occasion, being assured that the sympathy of our feelings will amply

excuse me.

But for your Lordship's absence I should at an earlier period have solicited an interview on the interesting subject of Ali Bin Naser's misson from the Imaum of Muscat, particularly as there would seem to be great doubt as to the Articles said to have been agreed to by the Imaum in 1839, for the limitation of the Slave Trade in Arab vessels

from Socotra to Pussein, instead of from Socotra to Diu Head, which Articles Lord Canning was so good as to say he would obtain a copy of, from the Board of Control; but no doubt it had escaped his Lord ship's recollection.

The Envoy has, however, I think, satisfactorily shown that no infringement of the Imaum's engagements with the British Government has taken place; and that a construction has been put upon certain cases stated in your Lordship's letter to the Envoy of the 6th August last, not borne out by circumstances; and, reflecting upon the good faith of His Highness the Imaum, of which I am so perfectly convinced, that I would stake my existence upon it—

I would say to your Lordship, let the British Government give to the Imaum its confidence and friendship, and everything in his power may be looked for in return; whilst a contrary conduct, and particularly anything in the shape of threat, will assuredly be productive of failure.

In corroboration of which, I would refer your Lordship to the accompanying able letter from Mr. Gideon Colquhoun; who, having passed 14 years in the diplomatic service of the East India Company at Bussora, and intimately acquainted with the language and habits of the Arabs, by whom he was universally esteemed, is well qualified to give an opinion upon the subject. He states that by good management everything wished for in Arabia might be obtained through the influence of the Imaum. I would strongly recommend that Mr. Colquhoun should be induced to undertake a mission to Zanzibar, where I feel assured he would succeed in accomplishing your Lordship's humane views to the utmost extent that could reasonably be expected at present, and lay the foundation of the extinction of the Slave Trade at no distant period.

As connected with, and bearing strongly upon this subject, I would refer your Lordship to the accompanying packet, containing confidential but very important information from Captain Cogan, of the Indian Navy, who has long possessed the confidence of the Imaum, and whose disinterested testimony may be relied upon, whatever may be said or insinuated to the contrary.

I trust I shall not be considered by your Lordship as obtruding myself on this occasion. Your Lordship knows me sufficiently to give me credit for having the interests of humanity only in view, with a just regard to the feelings and independence of the Imaum of Muscat, who has done me the honour to request my assistance to his Envoy in his communications with your Lordship.

His Highness is, without exception, the most humane and liberalminded of all the Sovereigns of the East; and he would, I am confident, be disposed at once to meet your Lordship's views, in their fullest extent, if he could do so with safety to himself and his Govern

ment, which however might, with good management, in due time, be accomplished.

The accompanying memorandum, drawn up by the Envoy's Secretary, may be acceptable to your Lordship, as showing the anxieties of other parties to ingratiate themselves with the Imaum, through his Envoy, and the very proper manner in which the Envoy has declined the overtures made to him.

The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T.

I have, &c.

CHAS. FORBES.

(Inclosure 11.)-Captain Cogan to Sir Charles Forbes.

MY DEAR SIR,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith, October 28, 1842. IN conformity with your request, I have now the pleasure of putting to paper my opinions relative to the Government of the Imaum of Muscat, and on the subjects which have led to the present mission of his Envoy, Ali Bin Naser, to this country. On these subjects my recent visit to Zanzibar and friendly intercourse with His Highness, enables me to speak with some confidence, and confirms me in the opinions I communicated to Her Majesty's Government, in my letter of September 5, 1838, to the Secretary to the Board of Control, and of December 5, 1839, to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

The abolition of the Slave Trade is a subject that I have on all opportune occasions, for the last 6 years, endeavoured to impress on His Highness's mind; noticing the unpleasant feelings engendered by the British public towards His Highness's Government on that account; also my belief that the Powers of Europe would ultimately combine to forcibly suppress it. His Highness is quite alive to these considerations; but, independently of the pecuniary loss that would be consequent on the abolition of slavery, in my opinion he has not the power to effect any immediate change; particularly if a coercive display is made on our part to compel him. The Imaum is regarded by his subjects much more in the light of a Patriarch, presiding over a community, than as a despotic Sovereign, governing an extensive empire; consequently the appearance of our recklessly compelling him to stop the transit of slaves from East Africa would, in my opinion, be the signal for revolt, and the dismemberment of his Government, thereby leaving us numerous petty chieftains to contend with, instead of one responsible and respected head. Nor would such a step effect any diminution in the trade; I believe it would be conducted on a more extensive scale, with the additional horrors attending clandestine operations. If, on the other hand, we evince consideration for His Highness's Government, by making some equivalent for his losses, and by aiding him in the recovery of some of his lost dominions, it would partly reconcile a powerful party of his own adherents to the

undertaking; whilst the moral influence of our Government co-operat ing with him in the cause, would keep in check the discontented chieftains on the coast, who, in a minor degree, would become losers by the abolition of the trade.

When I recently concluded our Commercial Treaty with His Highness, I addressed the Bombay Government on this subject, and pointed to the island of Bahrein as a legitimate portion of the Imaum's dominions, in the recovery of which, "by our squadron in the Persian Gulf," we are by Treaty more than justified in assisting His Highness; and I see by the last Indian mail, the sovereignty of that island is now disputed by the very parties who wrested it from the Imaum; thereby presenting a good opportunity for our interference, and for carrying out the measures I then suggested without any cost, and thereby effectually promoting the great object in view.

My recent visit to Zanzibar only tended to confirm my former opinions that the export of slaves from His Highness's African dominions may in time be entirely abolished by gradual and systematic steps. The abrupt course lately pursued towards His Highness, in my opinion, would retard the very object it strives to attain; and it would be attended by the additional evil of weakening British interests on the whole coast of East Africa and Arabia. It would be injurious to the stability of our rule at Aden, and would hazard the success of our mission to the kingdom of Shoa; for it is beyond dispute that English interference in slavery has become a by-word with every intriguing foreigner having in view to create a prejudice against the British Government in those regions; and which I can in truth say has been very successful.

On my arrival at Zanzibar, in March last, I found His Highness the Imaum in an unhappy state of mind, from various causes, and under an impression that his old friends, the English, had turned against him. Lord Leveson's letter, "transmitted through the Indian Government," he described as very different in tone and character to any former communication from the British Government; whilst the conduct of Captain Hamerton, he believed, could only emanate from the instructions of the Indian Government to pick a quarrel with him. That he was confirmed in these opinions by the fact of the Queen's brig, the Grecian, Captain Smith, having seized and searched for slaves one of the vessels of his own subjects, in his own port of Zanzibar, under instructions from Captain Hamerton. That the same gentleman had accused him of a breach of Treaty, which a calm inquiry would have clearly disproved. That Captain Hamerton's conduct to him had on various occasions bordered on insult; and that a trifling present, which he had sent to that officer, with the view of keeping up friendly intercourse, was insultingly returned to him. That a representation to the British Admiral (King) at the Cape, complaining