The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-17 00:00:00

THE SEYYID OF ZANZIBAR IN THE

CITY OF LONDON.

On Monday His Highness the Seyyid of Zanzibar
went in State to Guildhall to receive the freedom of
the City of London, which had been previously voted
to him in the Court of Common Council. The Lord
Mayor and Sheriffs went in State from the Mansion-
house to attend the ceremony, and many of the Alder-
men and all the leading members of the Corporation,
from the Recorder downwards, wearing their civic
robes, were in their places; the presence of the Lady
Mayoress and many other ladi ts lending additional
animation to the spectacle.

The Seyyid, on arriving at the Guildhall, was re-
ceived at the entrance by Mr. Deputy Stapleton and
Mr. R. N. Philippe, the mover and seconder of the
resolution conferring the freedom, with every mark of
respect, the whole company rising to receive him—and
was escorted thence, with his suite including the Rev.
' Dr. Badger, to the dais at the eastern end of the Hall,
where the Lord Mayor, Mr. Russell Gurney (the
Recorder), the Town Clerk, and the principal officers
of the Corporation awaited the arrival of His High-
ness. The Seyyid having taken the seat assigned him
on the left of the chair, the Lord Mayor rose
and said it was scarcely necessary for him to
remind the Court of the purpose for which
they were specially assembled. On the arrival in
this country of His Highness the Seyyid of Zanzibar
a motion was made in the Court of Common Council
by Mr. Deputy Stapleton, and duly seconded, that His
Highness should be invited to attend in that ancient
Guildhall to receive from the Corporation of London
an address of welcome. Those compliments, as was
well-known, were not paid as matters of course, but
were to be taken as evidence that the recipient was not
only of distinguished rank, but was one whom the City
of London delighted to honour. (Cheers.)
The Recorder then read the address, which was as
follows :

"To His Highness the Seyyid of Zanzibar.—We, the Lord
llaytr, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London,
in Common Council assembled, gladly avail ourselves of
the opportunity presented by the presence of your High-
ness in this country to welcome you to the ancient City of
London. The wonderful facilities of modern travel is
bringing to our shores rulers and men of distinction from
all parts of the habitable globe, but this is probably the first
occasion on which a Sovereign of Arabian lineage—one of
the oldest in the world—has paid a visit to this City. We
regard the visit with much satisfacUon, because it affords
another opportunity for the interchange of courteous and
friendly international sentiments so conducive to peace,
progress, and a good understanding between nations. It is
gratifying to this honourable Court to recognise in your
Highness one well versed in literature and learning; but
above all it desires to express to your Highness the gra•iflca-
ton with which it received intelligence of the Treaty effected
between our gracious Sovereign and your Highness, having
for its object the suppression of the inhuman traffic in slaves
within the limits of your sovereignty on.the East Coast of
Africa. In conclusion we desire to express our sincere hope
that the reign of your Highness may be long, prosperous,
and happy." (Cheers.)

The Seyyid, through the Rev. Dr. Badger, made the
subjoined reply, portions of which, here and there,
were much cheered, and especially the concluding sen-
tence.

"To the Very Honourable the Lord Mayor and the
Honourable Aldermen and Commons of the Protected City
of London,—We have heard your address, and we thank you
for the welcome which you have accorded us—a 'Welcome
which we believe to be sincere and hearty. We are proud,
moreover, of the honour which you have done to our lineage
through us, an honour which will be appreciated as well by
the Arabs of Arabia as by their descendants on the East
Coasts of Africa, where the fame of the City of London has
long been known. Further, we need hardly say that we
fully reciprocate your kindly-expressed hope regarding the
continuance of peace, progress, and unanimity among the
nations; but for ourselves we would say more on this me-
morable occasion, and it is this—that our highest desire
Is that the interests of our country and people
should be identical with yours. We do not wonder
that here in London, the centre of freedom and
clvilization, the subject of the slave trade should engross
so much attention, for we are aware that it cost you much
time and that you spent millions of money to put an end to
it among yourselves; nevertheless, you finally accomplished
It, to your perpetual honour. We thank you for recognizing
the little which, acting up to our treaty obligations, we have
been able to do in the same direction ; and we now say to
you, do not ignore the difficulties of our situation • help us
wherein we need help in this matter, and, God willing, our
prosperity shall, in course of time, be as your prosperity, and
our freedom like yours. May the Almighty, the bountiful
God, bless the august Sovereign of this realm and her Royal
family, and increase more and more the prosperity and happi-
ness of the city of London."

With this the ceremony, so far as the Guildhall
was concerned, terminated, and His Highness the
Seyyid, with the members of his suite, was
escorted by the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs to the
Mansion-house, where they were after wards entertained
at a sumptuous dectiner in the Egyptian-hall. The
company invited to meet them there included many
distinguished persons.

After luncheon, the Lord Mayor, in proposing the
first toast, said,—May it please your Highness, my
Lords, and Gentlemen, I have now the honour to
propose to you the health of Her Majesty the Queen
of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India.
(Loud cheers.)
_

•
The whole audience rose in response to the toast, the
Seyyid and His Highness's suite, following the example,
and the band played the National Anthem.
The Lord Mayor, after a pause, said :
I have now the distinguished honour to propose to you the
health of our guest of to-day—the Seyyid of Zanzibar. His
Highness has this day received in our Gaildhs.ll an ad-
dress from the Corporation of London, in which he has
been welcomed in this ancient City, and that address
has expressed the gratification which the citizens have
experienced in having an opportunity of interchanging
sentiments of friendly relationship and courtesy with His
Highness, whose reply in the Guildhall this day I am sure
will be read throughout this country with intense satisfac-
tion, expressing, as it does, the sentiments of an enlight-
ened and liberal Potentate. (Hear.) For myself, as Chief
Magistrate of this City, I am proud and pleased to receive His
Highness as an honoured guest in the Mansion House, and
I am sure you will all join with me in giving him a hearty
welcome (Cheers.) I sincerely trust and believe that this
visit of His Highness to this country and to this metropolis,
and also the opportunity His Highness has had of witness-
ing the great and varied industries in our commercial and
manufacturing districts, will have afforded hitct a high
amount of pleasure as well as of information —(hear, hear)—
information which I believe he will take back to his kingdom
and utilize for the welfare and advantage of those over whom
he rules. The Corporation have alluded in their address to a
very gratifying subject—namely, that of the Treaty which has
been entered into between His Highness and this country for
the suppression of the traffic in slaves within the limits of his
sovereignty. (Hear, hear.) I believe itis a fact that His Efigh-
nen has thoroughly, fully, and faithfully carried out that
Treaty, althoughthe result has been a great loss to himself,
accompanied by a large amount of trouble and anxiety. I
think I may say that for this noble and generous act His
Highness i, entitled to the best and most cordial thanks, not
only of this country, but of every civilised nation of the
world (cheers) ; and I am sure that, if c.illed upon, they will
all lend their aid in further carrying out thoze enlightened
and liberal views which he has enunciated to-day in the
Gnildhall. I need say no moro, except to ask you to receive
this toast with the utmost cordiality, and join me in wishing;
His Highness health and long life, and a happy and prospe-
rous reign. (Cheers.)
The toast was received by the whole company with
all due honour.

His Highness the Seyyid and Dr. Badger having
risen together to acknowledge the compliment, Dr.
Badger said—

My Lord Mayor, my lords, and gentlemen, His Highness is
extremely sorry that he cannot speak to you in a language
which would be understood by you all, and, therefore, he
has commissioned me to speak for him. In this respect I
have a very difficult tyk—quite as difficult as he has him-
self. The difficulty consists in this ; he has heard it said--
in fact I translated one of the passages from a newspaper
the other day which said—that his speeches were very
much alike. But his reply was, "How can I help that? it
Is your fault that is to say, the fault of the
English people. You all begin by welcoming me and
thanking me ; you all tell me I have done something
for the abolition of the slave trade, and you hope I shall do
more; and what can I say in reply but thank you, thank
you, thank you?" (Cheers.) His Highness feels that great
honour has been done through himself to the Arab people.
Perhaps, as was mentioned in the address from the Cor-
poration to-day, he is one of the first Sovereigns of Arab
lineage who has come to this country. The accounts of his
reception will, His Highness is sure, be read with great de-
light among Arabs everywhere, whether in the desert or in-
habiting towns; "and for that," he says, "I have greatly to
thank the British Press, especially the Press of London,
which has given such long and kindly accounts of my recep-
tion in this country." (Cheers.) No later than Saturday last
His Highness received an Arabic newspaper from Constanti-
nople, in the first broad page of which were numerous ex-
tracts from most of the London newspapers, setting forth
the manner in which he has been received by Englishmen.
That paper is edited by one of the first Arab scholars in the
world, and well known for his talents, and it will in a few
days, perhaps, be circulated throughout the whole of Arabia.
The story will extend throughout the whole East, and Arabs
will be delighted at the honour which you have done an
Arab; for Arabs have always been the friends of the
British people, as theEisniunegligshhirs ay,
have been
ntheArfarbiesnodfsmoyf
the Arabs. (Cheers.) H
country have fought side by side with Englishmen ;" and I
can say, knowing as I do some little about the East, that at
the present time not only the Arabs, but all followers of
Islam, look up to England, on account of its justice
and toleration, as their protector. (Cheers.) His High-
ness remarks that the cordiality which he has re-
ceived from Her Gracious Majesty, who so condescend-
ingly received him, from the members of the Royal
Family, from the Ministry, from many heads of Depart-
ments from the different Corporations throughout the

country, and now from the glorious Corporation of the City
of London, so overwhelms him that he can repeat nothing
but "Thank you; thank you." "The remembrance," he says,
"I shall carry away with me to my native land, and I shall
never forget It. I trust, also, that what I have seen of the
liberty, of the industry, and of the enterprise of this country
will be a lesson to me, and, I trust, will have an inallenCt3
upon my future rule in that country. (Cheers.) On the sub-
ject of slavery, to which the right hon. the Lord Mayor
alluded in the toast, I can only repeat, as I have already said
in reply to the address of the Corporation, that, God willing
—for without him nothing is strong, nothing is great—l
shall do my best ; and I trust it will not be
long before the freedom of all people within my
territory shall be the freedom of Englishmen." (Cheers.)
In this respect His Highness is delighted to hear
the sentitstents expressed by the Lord Mayor, as in the Pro-
vinces, that you will bear with him and sympathize with
his difficulties, for those difficulties are very, very great.
(near, hear.) He trusts that therein your philanthropy
will be shown in action, and that- you will give not only
moral sympathy, but, if need be, that you wilt give
material help to carry out the great undertaking in which
you are so much interested, but in which, on the spot, in
carrying it out, he has met with so much opposition.
His Highness reminds me of a picture which he saw in
the Town-hall of Manchester. He asked me what it was.
I said it was the picture of the Good Samaritan, and then
I explained to him the parable as related in the New Testa-
ment. It represented the man who had fallen among
thieves in the arms of the Good Samaritan ; and in
one co-nor there was the head and part of the hack of an ass
ready to carry away the burden. "The man who had fallen
among thieves," he said, "In all probability you will liken to
the slave in East Africa. You English people—the whole
nation—are like the Good Samaritan; but what am I like?
Perhaps what I resemble most of all is the ass in the corner,
for upon me all the burden falls." (Loud laughter and
cheers.) His Highness, added Dr. Badger, had written down
a few words before I began to speak on his behalf, and they,
are these—" I pray God that my visit to thiscountry may re-
sult in good to my people in East Africa." (Cheers.)
With that the Seyyid and Dr. Badger resumed their
seats together, but on an intimation of His Highness
they both immediately rose again; and Dr. Badger
said it was seldom the Beyyid spoke himself in public;
but, being appealed to to break through his rule on the
present occasion and say a few words himself, he
desired that the company would drink to the health,
prosperity, and greater honour--if that were possible
—of the Lord Mayor of the City of London.

The toast was drunk with great cordiality; and the
Lord Mayor, in reply, thanked his Highness for so
kindly departing from his usual custom as to honour
him—and through him the Corporation of London—
by proposing his health. The compliment, in his esti-
mation, was enhanced by the circumstance that such
toast was never before proposed in Arabic. He was
proud to know that his Highness had acknowledged
the warmth and cordiality of the receptions he had
everywhere received, and especially in the Guildhall,
not only from the Aldermen but ladies, to the extent
of pressing his hand and receiving a like favour in
return. _ _

With that the company rose to depart, and, after
taking a courteous lea-ve of the Lord Mayor and the
Lady Mayoress, His Highness and his retinue entered
their carriages and were driven away. An enormous
crowd had assembled outside the Mansion House to
witness their departure ; and to the Lord Mayor, who
had escorted his distinguished guest to the entrance.
His Highness remarked that he had never before wit-
nessed such a scene.

The insignia of the honorary freedom conferred
upun the Seyyid were enclosed in a handsome gold
casket. It bears a suitable inscription, and is oblong
in shape, of fine gold, the corners being formed by four
square towers, two sides of each of which are ornamented
with a lion's head in relief, and the summits of the towers
are turreted and domed. On the centre of the body is
a gray enamel plaque, bearing the Seyyid's crest,
monogram, and Arabic motto, enamelled green on
white. The whole is surmounted by a central dome
having on its summit the City arms modelled and
chased in relief.