Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-20
The Zanzibar Expedition.


A letter dated Zanzibar, Jan. 18th,
1873, gives the following particulars con
corning Sir Bartle Frere's anti-slaYe
trade mission, and the movements of the
fleet at anchor of the island
Her Maiesty's ship Glasgow, Admiral
Cumming, and Her Maiestv's shin
Daphne, Commander Bateman, Joined
Her Maiesty's ship Briton. Capt NAL
colin, on the 23d of Dec. off the island
of Zanzibar. Here they have remained,
comparatively speaking, inactive ever
since, little work being done except BY
boats ont on detached service. The slave
trade is said to be carried on on a large
scale between Kilwa, on the African
coast, about 200 miles on the south, and
the island of Madagascar, but the time
for British action in those waters is ap-
parently not vet come. When il does
come our ships, with their one thousand
officers and men, viii make quick and
sharp work with it. There is much di-
plomatic fencing, but should the Sultan
consent to form a treaty. be will do so
reluctantly. Every concession will have
to be wrung from him. Perhaps an Ill
timatum, leaving the option Of taking a
handsome subsidy or getting nothing at
all. viii be the only means Of overcom-
ing his Discrimination TO treat 1t will
doubtless be on one side a sine qua nan
that no slave for sale be allowed to be at
any tImp of the wear on the open sea.
As to domestic slavery the case Is differ
emit With this we can hardly claim q
right 10 interfere The chief evil con
sists in the great demand for slaves in
Arabia, Persia and Turkey This de-
mand is met by slave hunting, and the
captured slaves are passed over ia ships
furnished with passes from the Sultan
of Zanzibar. II Wc get our treaty, the
moment they get on the wafer they are
liable to capture.
The difficulty which looms before as
in the future is that as soon as the Arab
and Zanzibar flags are pat down as COY
ering slave traffic, the evil viii probably
be continued as vigorously as ever under
cover of the French and TURKISH flags
In fact. a considerable amount Of slave
traffic is i; the present moment carried
on under the French flag. We dare not
touch these men. The persons who car
~ il on are not FTenchmcn al all, nor
have they ever been In France, or lived
on a French island. nor do they speak
word of French but the consular au-
secure them a customers. say. 60 to q
French island, say for instance Nos
beh buy a hut Get French protection
you can sell yOur hut next day-then
YOU can use our flag. The Arab NAV
reply: All that IS very wei but how
about carving slaves The other re-
plies. ''Well, you know. we can always
give Won passes for from 20 to 20 ser
wants. Do not take a full cargo Of
slaves il will be all right but then of
course YOU deal with orr firm" They
understand each other perfectly, and
circumYent US. Such, then, is the state
of things on this 18th Of January in Zan
zibar. Sir Bartle Frere is negotiating
Admiral Cumming, Captain Malcolm.
and Commander Bateman, with their
respective ships, are waiting. Some OF
the boats are out cruising, and the rest
of the feet are following the usual rou-
tine. varied with cricket every afternoon.
On the I'd the boats of the Briton cap
tured a SLAYER, 4 small vessel. but, as the
of the slaves was only Just be
ginning, they only caught one who was
taken on board. On the 18th they got
hold of a SLAYER, about forty miles dis
tant from Zanzibar, as she was landing
% slaves near Dara. She had come from
Kilwa with ~ slaves, and fifty had died
on the passage, only distance Of 13G
miles. This. was horrible, but they
could not touch this vessel because she
was furnished with the pass of the Sui
tan of Zanzibar Capt. Malcolm's boats
have boarded nearly one hundred dhows
in the short time he has been on those
This makes him unenviabIy
popular among the Arabs, who regard
the ubiquity of his boats as something
1t Is clear that the feet
only requires freedom to act in order &c
act with effect.