Year: 1873

and the seas used to be swept by robbers.
great many Of these pirates were, am
afraid, of European descent, but they were
chiefly Arabs. These pirates were suffclent
to prevent the slave trade being carried on
IN its present state, because, as you may
easily imagine, no ship filed with slaves
could make any resistance against well
armed pirate. II happened that TWO things
occurred within the last fifty years. There
had been general resumption OF the OLD
trade by Indian merchants, and accompa-
nying 1t there had been general growth OF


the slave trade. do not wish you to sup,


pose that these two things were connected


in the way of cause and effect, because l


must say of Indian merchants that as 10


their direct connection with the slave trade


| have found very little to their preJu'
dice. and, indeed. all the great mer-
chants are free from connection with
the slave trade. although. by the posses
sion OF capital, which might be exchanged
for human beings, they may have had an
indirect connection. That was the state Ol
things as we tonnd it. and upon the subject
of the slave trade need not say more than
| what Won know already. You are aware OF
| the feeling on the subject in England, and
| believe in India generally, that this trade
must be stopped. ! have no doubt it will
| be stopped very speedily. because things at
both ends of Africa have changed greatly
of late. All the civilized countries in the


world, who used to be customers for slaves,


have now given the practice up. In another
three wears there will be legal end put by


government to the slave trade in the POrtu-
guese colonies, where that trade used to be
general. Then the government of NADIA
gascar is favorable, and may say that this
struck me as one of the most favorable


symptoms of Improvement in that country.


The government of Madagascar is com


posed entirely of natives. and yet
they have set their faces against


slavery, and declared that it shall not exist


in their country. At one of the ports in


Madagascar we found an Arab nacoda in


prison for a year for carrying on the slave


trade. The King of the Jehannas told us
that his island should not be place for


harboring slaves, and that all people


brought to his territories as slaves should


be set free. On the Arabian coast found
there was the same disposition with refer
ence to slaves who might be brought to
those lands that are under the political rule
of Colonel Pelly. All the people IN these


places told us they would set their faces
against slavery. Therefore, have no doubt
that slavery, upon it's present scale. will
cease shortly. At the same time there will
remain for many years to come desire on
the part of certain people to make money
by trafficking in human flesh, and the
attempt to do so will be made in spite of all
we may do to prevent it, 1t is in this
respect that l think the gentlemen


at present here, who are connected
either as caste fellows or as countrymen
with the merchants of East Africa, or at
all events those who hold the purse strings,
may do deal of good work to assist the
English government. If you inform your
minds upon this subject and read what is
now on record in print regarding the slave
trade, and set your faces against the traffic
in the way that you would deal with any
other great evil that comes before you or
with any general impediment to civiliza-
ton, you Will act directly upon your coun-
trymen who are carrying on this trade.
You might be able to create public opin-
ion on the subject which would greatly as
sist the public opinion of England. be.
lieve that in few years you could make it
disgrace for anybody calling himself
HindOo or Mohammedan merchant to be
even suspected of having anything to do
with this trade. / wish that those among
you who have leisure and power to lead the
opinion of your cOuntrymen would come
forward to assist that civilization which
England is bent upon introducing in Africa.
The work will have its material as well as
it's moral reward.


The east coast of Africa is really magni-
ficent. 1t is quite as fine, naturally, as
your own Malabar coast, abOundlng in good
harbors, and facilities for trade beyond
anything l have ever seen. Hitherto the
trade of this coast has been sort of mono
poly in the hands of people who in their
way are extremely intelligent, because they
have seen good deal of the world and
rubbed off good many prejudices Upon
the whole they are more active men than
their fellow countrymen here, and l need
not say that that is SAYING great deal for
any merchant. l wish there were more
classes of people engaged in the trade, be-
cause believe one Of the chief causes of our
prosperity has been the great mixture OF
races in India. l may say that l did not see
single Parsee from one end of Africa to
the other, excepting at Mozambique, and
| wish Parsees were more numerous. l have
said that the present mOnOpOliZers of the
trade are energetic men, but what they
chiefly require is a little of modern educa-
tiOn and ivilizatiOn-certainly they ought
to get some of the learning of the West. In
the diffusion of this kind of knowledge
many of you here might do much good
Many of these merchants can read Guzer-
athee if they can read nothing else, and l
wish that some of the Guzerathee-s speaking
gentlemen, who are educated, would write
information for those people in that Ian
guage. BY this means the greatest good
could be accomplished. There is now direct
communication by steamer from Alden. and
l hope there will soon be the same from
Bombay and Arabia, so that it will no
longer be SO difficult to communicate with
these people that they must wait for about
seven months before they can communicate
with Europe. l foresee the time that there
will be greater communication between the
this country and the east coast of Africa,
and l look upon it as a certainty that you
will be able in one way or another, directly
or indirectly, to do great deal in making
Africa as free from the curse of slavery as
India now is. Let me assure you, in con-
clusion. that what you have heard of the
horrors of the slave trade is in no way ex.
aggerated. We have seen so much Of the
horrors which were going on that we can
have no doubt that what you read in books,
which are so often spoken of as containing
exaggeratiOns, is exaggerated in no respect.
The evil is greater than anything you can
conceive. Among the poorer class of
Africans there is nothing like security from
fathers and mothers being put to death in
order that their children may be cap
tured. and l may say every tenth person
captured dies after his seizure. l can not
lose this opportunity of telling you what
really very much concerns you--frst of all,
that you have indirectly a great deal to do
with the maintenance of the present state
of things: that i: is in your power to stop the
traffic. and that the suppression of such an
evil is one as worthy OF you as Of the com
bination of all civilized nations. hope to
hear that my old friends in Bombay will do
their part well. and | am sure that if the
matter is once placed before them in its
true light they will not be behind in their
duty: thank You all for the patience with
which you have listened to me, and hope
that those of you who understand English
will explain what have said to those who
do not. Loud applause.]


The Hon. Munguldass Nathoobhoy said:
Gentlemen-I think you all agree with me
that our warmest thanks are due to Sir
Bartle Frere for the very interesting and