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 LI B RAR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN IVLRSITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS
 
 wmmmmsmmmm^ .a^liKS?^ 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 THE HONOUEABLE MEMBERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 dtd €ammiiu oi t)^t ^anst of ComnraiTs 
 
 APrOINTED '10 IXQUIRE INTO THE QUESTION OF TIIK 
 
 SLAVE TRADE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EAST COAST OF AFRICA. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. A. F RASE II, 
 
 L A T E CAPTAIN INDIAN N A V V. 
 
 Zanzibar, .//ui., 1S72.
 
 LETTER ON THE SLAVE-TMDE. 
 
 To the honourable Members of the Committee of the House 
 of Commons, ajppointed to inquire into the question of the 
 Slave-trade on the East Coast of Africa, 
 
 Gentlemen, — On the 24tli of July, 1871, the Rev. Horace 
 Waller stated in evidence to your Honourable Committee as 
 follows : — 
 
 " The fact of Captain Fraser employing slaves, led to everlasting 
 murmuring on the part of the natives. 
 
 " One morning, they would see us burning the Dhows which were 
 engaged in the Slave-trade, and the next morning they would see 
 an Englishman working factories and plantations with the slaves 
 safely landed. It was a question which puzzled more acute people 
 than they were. The same thing existed at the Comoro Islands. 
 It was a mere sham and a delusion. The poor slaves were hired 
 in gangs from their Arab masters. The Arab master was called on 
 by the English employer, who., merely as a matter of form, said, 
 * Now mind, all these people are to be free labourers on my planta- 
 tion; I will hand over their wages to you.' But, of course, they 
 were not handed over. It was encouraging the Slave-trade. " 
 
 Question by Sir Robert Anstruther : " As far as the slaves were 
 concerned, they. were as much slaves after the transaction as before ?" 
 — " Yes." 
 
 Question by Mr. Crum Ewing i " After they were manumitted, 
 did they not remain with Captain Fraser of their own accord ?"-— 
 " I am not sure about that. I know at the time it was a great 
 scandal." 
 
 With reference to the above, I protest against the injustice done 
 me by your honourable Committee receiving,'and placing on Parlia- 
 mentary record, statemehts affecting my character, made by a 
 person who gave evidence regarding a place (Zanzibar) where he
 
 had never been, of people he had never known, and of " facts " that 
 had no existence, except in his own imagination'; and I denounce 
 such statements, so far as they are applied to me, as false and 
 malicious slanders. 
 
 This is not the first time that private malice has instigated similar 
 attacks against me, which I have hitherto treated with the contempt 
 they merit. But the importance given to the present, by being 
 recorded in the evidence given before your honourable Committee, 
 renders it my imperative duty to clear my name from the foul 
 aspersions cast on it by the Reverend Horace Waller. 
 
 Before detailing the circumstances under which I became largely 
 connected with the employment of slave labour, it may be well to 
 explain what the Reverend Horace Waller has failed to do — viz., 
 that slave labour is almost the only labour obtainable in Zanzibar, 
 and is universally employed by all foreign residents engaged in 
 commerce ; there being some thousands of British subjects besides 
 myself who so employ it. 
 
 It should be understood that in the town of Zanzibar, slaves, 
 male and female, are allowed by their owners to hire themselves for 
 the day to whomever they prefer to serve, and to perform whatever 
 description of work they choose ; one moiety of their day's wages 
 being the perquisite of the owner, the other of the slave. 
 
 Several thousands of slaves of both sexes, and of all ages, are 
 thus daily employed by the various mercantile houses in Zanzibar. 
 
 Gangs of slave porters are also constantly employed by the 
 merchants, under annual or half-yearly contract with their owners, 
 and without such an arrangement no vessels could be loaded or dis- 
 charged, nor could goods nor produce be stored, as these porters 
 have the entire monopoly of such work, and no interlopers would 
 be tolerated. 
 
 As the employment of slave labour at Zanzibar is quite legal, in 
 order to be singled out and publicly branded as having created " a 
 great scandal " by my employment of slave labour, it must be shown 
 that my conduct in that respect has been such as to deserve special 
 censure for exceptionally flagitious action on my part. How far 
 my culpability extends, the following statements will prove. 
 
 Tn 1864, Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair, then Her Majesty's Political 
 Agent and Consul at Zanzibar, strongly advocated the cultivation 
 of the sugar-cane, and manufacture of sugar by steam machinery, at 

 
 Zanzibar, and induced my firm to enter into co-partnery with the 
 late Sultan, Seyd Majid, for that purpose. 
 
 The contract, or articles of co-partnery, were drawn up by 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair, and authenticated by his signature and 
 seal of office. 
 
 I quote so much of this contract as bears specially on the ques- 
 tion of slave labour, together with the preamble, viz. : — 
 
 " Articles of agreement entered into between His Highness Seyd 
 Majid bin Saied, Sultan of Zanzibar, of the first part, and Hugh 
 Alexander Fraser, representing the firm of H. A. Fraser and Co., 
 Merchants, of the second part, this twenty-fifth day of March, one 
 thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, of the Christian era. 
 
 " To wit : The parties above described, for themselves, their 
 heirs, and successors, agree to enter into partnership for the cultiva- 
 tion and manufacture of sugar in the island of Zanzibar, on the 
 following terms. . . . 
 
 " Article III. — Messrs. H. A. Fraser and Co. agree to supply to 
 the unskilled labourers provided by His Highness Seyd Majid, the 
 usual allowance of food and clothing. 
 
 " Article IV. — His Highness Seyd Majid agrees to supply 500 
 (five hundred) unskilled labourers, not including children, who shall 
 receive no wages from Messrs. H. A. Fraser and Co. ; and further, 
 that if through any reason the number should fall short of 500 (five 
 hundred), and if His Highness Seyd Majid, after being duly warned 
 of the fact, should fail to complete the complement, it shall be 
 competent to Messrs. H. A. Fraser and Co. to engage the number 
 of labourers necessary to complete the complement, and debit the 
 amount thus expended to His Highness Seyd Majid. . . . 
 
 " Article XI. — This agreement will hold good for twenty-one 
 years, when it may be renewed by mutual consent. . . . 
 
 " I, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lambert Playfair, Her Britannic 
 Majesty's Consul and Political Agent at Zanzibar, do hereby certify 
 that the preceding contract has been made with my cognisance, and 
 that the Arabic version thereof is a correct translation, and that 
 both the contracting parties understand the meaning thereof. 
 
 " Given under my hand and seal of office, at Zanzibar, this 
 twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of Christ, 1864* 
 
 " Signed, R. L. PLAYFAIR." 
 
 [Seal of British Consulate.]
 
 It will be observed that the term " slaves " is not used in the 
 above contract ; but the true status of the " labourers " is settled 
 by two notes written by Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair respecting 
 them — the first dated 25th February, 1864, the second, 13th April, 
 1864. 
 
 In the former he writes, " Regarding food and clothing, each 
 slave will receive J kela* of jowari, and 1 pice to purchase condi- 
 ments per diem, and two pieces of cloth of 4 drahs each per annum." 
 
 In the letter, " The slaves will be delighted to commute all claims 
 for subsistence, if you will allow them two days to work for them- 
 selves—Friday and one other day." 
 
 The co-partnery lasted but a few months, and was then dissolved 
 by mutual consent. In the meantime, however, expensive machinery, 
 on a large scale, for the manufacture of sugar, was on the way from 
 England, and as it thus became thrown on my hands, I had no 
 alternative but to buy land, plant cane, and erect the machinery. 
 
 An extract from a letter addressed by me to my partners in 
 London, under date 25th June, 1864, will show that, personally, I 
 was to the last averse to the employment of slave labour, and used 
 every effort, but without success, to obtain free labour in lieu. 
 
 {Extract,) 
 
 "Dear Sirs, — Accompanying copies of correspondence with 
 Lieut.-Colonel Playfair will explain the circumstances under which 
 we were compelled to cancel our contract with the Sultan. . . . 
 
 " We have consequently taken Kokotoni (estate) in hand, and 
 have a hundred men at work, clearing site for factory, building huts, 
 &c., and we hope to be able to organize a sufficient gang of free 
 labourers to work the estate, without the employment of slave 
 labour." 
 
 This hope unhappily proved fallacious. The free men were 
 chiefly natives of the Comoro Islands, notorious for their idle and 
 thievish prochvities, and they constantly absconded with their 
 Wages, which had to be paid them in advance, carrying with them 
 their tools and any other " portable property " they could lay hands 
 on ; and it was not till after a long and ineffectual struggle, that I 
 was at last compelled to follow the universal course and employ 
 slave labour. 
 
 * Rather more than a pound of millet, about three farthings in money.
 
 To render such labour of any value, it was necessary that those 
 employed should not be constantly changed, but remain settled on 
 the estate. 
 
 Keeping in view the terms of the contract drawn up by Lieut. - 
 Colonel Playfair, I not unnaturally concluded that, if I could legally 
 employ slaves without pay for twenty-one years, and longer, allow- 
 ing them barely sufficient sustenance and clothing to support nature, 
 no objection could possibly be taken to a more liberal and humane 
 arrangement which might ultimately prove beneficial to both 
 parties. With this view, I contracted for the labour I required in 
 the following terms, with the Arab owners of the gangs of 
 " hamals," or porters. 
 
 " We, the undersigned, agree and bind ourselves to supply to 
 
 Messrs. H. A. Fraser and Co. male and female able-bodied 
 
 labourers, and we engage that the said labourers shall be at the sole 
 disposal of Messrs. H. A. Fraser and Co. for the period of five 
 years, after which time we bind ourselves to guarantee the freedom 
 of all the said labourers who shall be slaves, on condition that 
 Messrs. H. A. Fraser and Co. pay to us for every iabourer one 
 year's pay, at the rate of two dollars per month per labourer, on 
 dehvery, and half-a-dollar per month for the succeeding four years. 
 The balance of wages, one dollar and a-half per month, to be pay- 
 able to the labourers, from whom we bind ourselves not to exact 
 nor receive any portion of their pay on any pretext whatever. 
 
 " For the first year, Messrs. H. A. Fraser and Co. shall clothe 
 and maintain the labourers at their own expense, and for every 
 succeeding year of this contract they shall not be called on to make 
 any disbursement on this account. 
 
 " We further undertake to supply vacancies caused by death or 
 desertion, to the extent of ten per cent, per annum of the whole 
 number of labourers supplied. 
 
 (Signed.) 
 
 *' Zanzibar, 23rd May, 1865. 
 
 " Registered No. 2 of 1866. British Consulate, Zanzibar, 
 
 "March 10th, 1866. 
 
 " Fee, 3s. Signed, G. EDWIN SEWARD, 
 
 " Acting Political Agent, H.B.M. Consul." 
 
 The advantages secured by the above contract to the slaves are
 
 6 
 
 self-evident, but, as will be shown, the conferring these very advan- 
 tages has constituted the sole " head and front of my offending." 
 
 It will be observed that the contract, which I have quoted in ex- 
 tenso, was not registered at the Consulate till nearly a year after it 
 was signed. This arose from my indisposition to have any dealings 
 with Lieut.-Colonel Playfair, who had adopted an attitude of open 
 hostility towards me. During his absence, it happened that the 
 Acting Consul, Dr. Seward, and Dr. Livingstone, paid me the 
 honour of a visit ; the latter professed much interest in the slave 
 labour question, and expressed himself anxious to see measures 
 adopted to secure, so far as possible, the freedom promised to the 
 slaves on the expiration of their five years' service. Dr. Livingstone 
 apparently entertaining some doubt as to the good faith of the Arab 
 owners. He, therefore, recommended the labour contracts being 
 registered at the Consulate, which would, in some measure, bring 
 them under Consular jurisdiction and protection. Dr. Seward con- 
 curred with Dr. Livingstone, and, in the event of my being indis- 
 posed to have the documents registered, expressed a laudable 
 curiosity to be allowed to see them in his private capacity. Having 
 no objection to their registration, I forwarded them to Dr. Seward, 
 who registered and returned them after some delay. I was little 
 aware at the time that, without a word of warning to me. Dr. 
 Seward had secretly taken copies of my contracts and forwarded 
 them to Lieut.-Colonel Playfair, then in England. 
 
 The latter gentleman being no longer on the friendly terms that 
 had formerly ruled his conduct towards me, deemed it his duty to 
 ascertain, without delay, whether some legal flaw might not, by 
 careful investigation, be discovered in the documents forwarded by 
 Dr. Seward. They were accordingly submitted without delay to the 
 searching investigation of the " Law Officers of the Crown," who, 
 no doubt greatly to Lieut.-Colonel Playfair's gratification, dis- 
 covered that the contracts in question compassed two serious 
 breaches of the law — viz., the " transfer " and " freeing " of the 
 slaves. 
 
 Lieut.-Colonel Playfair's contract was, of course, pronounced 
 unexceptionable. 
 
 Had he not, with all due precautions, as Her Majesty's Represen- 
 tative, signed away 500 human beings to certain bondage for 
 twenty-one years ? Could anyone accuse him of compassing their
 
 freedom ? Certainly not ! Had he not carefully provided a stalking- 
 horse in the person of the Sultan, under cover of which he could 
 securely defy any accusation of " transfer," or " removal," of 
 slaves ? 
 
 Lord Stanley, in his letter (following) dated 19th December, 
 1867, states, that in the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair's contract is a legal one, "and that 
 British subjects entering into contracts with natives who may hold 
 slaves in Zanzibar, similar in tenor to the contract of 1864, will not 
 infringe the law of this country ; " the fact of being in partnership 
 with such native being sufficient to legalize the contract. 
 
 It necessarily follows that if it is legal to receive slaves under 
 contract, from a native partner, by a British subject, to be employed 
 for joint account in agricultural operations a few miles from the 
 town of Zanzibar, the native partner being essentially " a sleep- 
 ing " one, it must be equally legal to receive and similarly employ 
 slaves in any number in any part of the Zanzibar dominions ; and 
 it is, moreover, declared to be legal for a British subject engaged in 
 such partnership, in case the number of slaves to be maintained by 
 his native partner should, from any cause, fall below the full com- 
 plement, and his native partner, on being duly warned of the fact, 
 should fail to make up the deficiency, to engage the necessary num- 
 ber of slaves himself to complete the complement at his native 
 partner's expense. 
 
 Thus, suppose A, a British subject, enters into partnership with 
 B, a native of Zanzibar, for the purpose of cultivating cotton, 
 sesame, or what not, at Brava, towards the northern extreme of the 
 Zanzibar dominions, for a stated number of years, slaves, say 500, 
 to be supplied, and the number maintained for the duration of the 
 contract by B. The latter fails to comply with his obligations ; A 
 therefore " engages " the number of slaves B has failed to supply. 
 Is it possible for A to " engage " such slaves for, say, five, ten, or 
 twenty years, without their " transfer " or " removal," in breach of 
 the Act v., Geo. lY. ? 
 
 If such engagement of slaves, provided for in Art. lY. of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Play fair's Contract, compasses a " transfer,'' or 
 " removal" of slaves within the terms of the Act, then is it clearly 
 in violation of the law. If not, I venture, with all deference to 
 Lord Stanley and the high authorities quoted by his Lordship, to
 
 8 
 
 solicit an explanation of the special process by which slaves can 
 be engaged for employment at a point more or less distant from 
 where they are located, by a British subject, without being in the 
 terms of the Act " removed " from their owners, and " transferred " 
 to him. 
 
 It may be asked, How the legality, or otherwise, of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Playfair's contract affects the question at issue ? I reply, 
 essentially ! 
 
 It was Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair who initiated the employ- 
 ment of slave labour by written contract. It was he who denounced 
 my contracts, couched as they were in terms infinitely more liberal, 
 just, and humane than his own ! 
 
 It was also he who, sheltered beneath the protecting ^gis of 
 the Foreign Office, obtaining exemption from personal blame, pur- 
 sued me with a malign hostility, and, aided by his official superiors, 
 did not scruple to threaten me with a prosecution for felony, on the 
 ground of the alleged illegality of my contracts. 
 
 By whatever process of legal hair-splitting his contract obtained 
 exemption from the brand of illegality, I believe it will be univer- 
 sally agreed that, all circumstances considered, Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Playfair was morally much more to blame than myself, and that in 
 taking action as he did in reference to my contracts, he was 
 prompted thereto by feelings of personal hostility, and not of 
 public duty ; and it is my present duty, as it is my intention, " to 
 have the saddle put on the right horse." 
 
 It is obvious that the fact of my registering my contracts at the 
 British Consulate, substantiates that they were made by me hond 
 fide, and in utter ignorance that they were open to any charge of 
 illegality. Had it been otherwise, it is to the last degree impro- 
 bable that I should wittingly have forwarded documents for regis- 
 tration, knowing them to be illegal. 
 
 It was a dishonourable act on the part of the Acting Consul, Dr. 
 Seward, to obtain access to my contracts in the manner he did, and 
 secretly to forward copies of them to Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair, 
 knowing as he did the hostile animus of that officer towards me; 
 and it was equally dishonourable of the latter to use documents — I 
 may say, surreptitiously obtained — as a public official, for the 
 gratification of private malice. 
 
 It is plain neither Dr. Seward, Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair, nor
 
 any of the Foreign Office authorities, to whom, no doubt, the 
 copies of my contracts were shown, could decide as to their legality 
 or otherwise, until the opinion of the Crown lawyers was taken. Is 
 it not equally plain that, the fact being clearly established that no 
 intentional breach of the law had been committed or contemplated, 
 and considering the otherwise just and liberal tenor of the contracts, 
 it was both undignified and unjust, under the circumstances, on the 
 part of the Foreign Office, to support Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair 
 in the course pursued by him towards me ? 
 
 On being called on to show cause why legal proceedings should 
 not be instituted against me on account of my labour contracts, I 
 wrote in reply to Dr. Seward (February 15, 1867), pointing out 
 that the contracts declared to be illegal had been, as he was aware, 
 framed in modified terms on Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair's Contract 
 of 1864 ; that they had been officially registered and authenticated 
 by himself, without a word being said as to their illegality; that the 
 action taken in the matter had evidently a sinister origin, inasmuch 
 as numbers of British subjects in Zanzibar employed large numbers of 
 slaves to man their vessels, scores of which latter annually proceeded 
 to Bombay, Cutch, &c., &c., and returned without let or hindrance; 
 that British subjects farmed the Customs' dues on the import and 
 export of slaves, without question, &c., &c. ; and enclosing copy of 
 my letter, copy of contract, &c., to be forwarded for information of 
 Lord Stanley, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs. Of course, neither the greater nor the lesser 
 dignitary deigned to take the slightest notice of my communica- 
 tion (beyond the acknowledgment of its receipt by Dr. Seward), 
 which has remained unanswered to the present day. 
 
 In the meantime, the slaves, whose owners were natives of no 
 great influence, were freed by the Sultan, at the instigation of the 
 Acting Consul, who gratefully acknowledged the manumission by 
 the Sultan of other people's chattels, as "a signal act of grace" 
 — certainly a cheap one. 
 
 Thereon ensued much flourishing of trumpets between the Con- 
 sulate and Foreign Office, of which the following extracts from 
 letters will give an idea : — 
 
 b3
 
 10 
 
 (Extract.) No. 114. 
 
 " Acting Consul Sewa/rd to Lord Stcmley. 
 
 « Zanzibar, 15th March, 1867. 
 (Received May 17th.) 
 
 "His Highness Seyd Majid, the Sultan of Zanzibar, at the 
 solicitation of Her Majesty's Consul, has freed 711 souls, working 
 under the condemned slave labour contract of an English sugar- 
 planter (H. A. Eraser and Co). 
 
 " Their freedom carries but one obligation — they must work for 
 someone — for whom they list ; but for someone. Their wages are 
 their own, and their liberty and civil rights as free folk inalienable. 
 
 " I have tried, and I trust I may succeed, to induce the Sultan 
 to impose one other condition : That no slave freed under this act 
 of grace shall ever possess a slave ; for the freed man's ability to 
 work vicariously through his slave is destructive of all the in- 
 vigorating influence that should spring from liberty." 
 
 No. 117. 
 
 " Lord StaTiley to Acting Consul Seward, 
 
 "Foreign Office, June 14th, 1867. 
 
 « Sir, — Her Majesty's Government have read with great satis- 
 faction your despatch of the 15th March last, in which you report 
 that the Sultan of Zanzibar has, at your instigation, liberated 711 
 slaves, who were working under contract with Messrs. H. A. 
 Eraser and Co, 
 
 " The question respecting the employment of slaves by that 
 firm having been thus happily settled, I have to instruct you to 
 inform Messrs. Eraser that Her Majesty's Government will not 
 adopt any proceedings against them, nor enforce any penalties they 
 have incurred by the violation of the British laws for the preven- 
 tion of the Slave Trade, provided that they will undertake on their 
 part to abstain for the future from all similar offences. 
 
 " It will be your duty, however, while interfering as little as 
 possible with any arrangements that may be made to prevent these 
 newly emancipated negroes from leading a life of idleness, to see 
 that their freedom is really guaranteed to them, and that they are 
 not again reduced to slavery."
 
 11 
 
 No. 118. 
 " Lord Stanley to Acting Consul Seward. 
 
 "Foreign Office, June 21, 1867. 
 
 " Sir, — I am desired by Lord Stanley to acquaint you with re- 
 ference to your despatch of 1867, that Her Majesty's Government 
 are quite prepared to testify their sense of the handsome conduct of 
 the Sultan of Zanzibar in liberating 711 slaves who were in the 
 employ of Messrs. Eraser, by making His Highness a present in 
 recognition of his enlightened and generous conduct on this oc- 
 casions^* 
 
 What there is in the arbitrary manumission of 711 slaves, the 
 property of people too weak to resist, to merit the laudatory 
 terms so lavishly bestowed by Lord Stanley, I, for one, fail to see ; 
 but I have not the slightest doubt, if his Lordship so highly appre- 
 ciates the handsome, enlightened, and generous conduct of the late 
 Sultan m freeing slaves that did not belong to him, as to reward so 
 " signal an act of grace," by a present of a diamond ring or stand 
 of arms, the present Sultan will be equally ready to gratify his 
 Lordship. Much, of course, will depend on the value and number 
 of diamond rings and arms to be presented in return for the per- 
 formance of the " acts of grace " in question. 
 
 It will scarcely be credited that, with the stringent precautions 
 taken by Lord Stanley and Dr. Seward — on paper — for the pro- 
 tection of the 711 freed " souls," neither Dr. Seward nor anyone 
 else that I am aware of, has troubled himself to inquire whether 
 these " free folk," have had secured to them their " inalienable " 
 civil rights — whether they work for " whoever they list," or loaf 
 about the island as thieves and vagabonds — whether, in fact, they 
 are bond or free, dead or alive. 
 
 I can safely say that the premature manumission of the slaves by 
 the Sultan, at Dr. Seward's solicitation, has been detrimental to 
 many, and advantageous to none. 
 
 About 150 men and women settled on an estate, which I subse- 
 quently sold, elected to remain there; they neither worked for 
 themselves nor for anyone else (except on occasions few and far 
 between), and it is on evidence that some made a livelihood by 
 stealing and selling the children of the others. 
 
 * Italics not in original.
 
 12 
 
 Those who were located on the principal estate of Kokotoni 
 remained, without a single exception ; but their emancipation 
 brought them no change of any kind whatever. They enjoyed the 
 same rights and privileges, and received precisely the same amount 
 of pay before as after their manumission. On framing my contracts 
 I had carefully considered the terms, and fixed them at as favour- 
 able a rate as I could safely venture to give to wild, rude, unskilled 
 savages, from whom no regular nor remunerative labour could be 
 expected for at least a year or two ; and when freed, before being 
 competent to maintain themselves as free people, I saw no induce- 
 ment to grant wider licence or higher wages than before. Since 
 then, the people have progressed amazingly, and some receive as high 
 wages as a shilling a-day, which to them is equal to at least what 
 five shillings a-day would be to an Enghsh workman. Appended 
 will be found a paper drawn up by Dr. James Christie, who, in his 
 medical capacity, has mixed much with these people, and whose 
 evidence will show how groundless such reckless accusations as 
 those of the Reverend Mr. Horace Waller are, and also what the 
 true status of the freed slaves who have remained in my employ is. 
 
 In August, 1867, being in England, I addressed a letter to Her 
 Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on behalf of my 
 firm, pointing out that I had received no reply to my letter of the 
 15th February, 1867, and soliciting information on certain points 
 in connection with the employment of slave labour by British 
 subjects. 
 
 The following is a copy of the reply : — 
 
 "Foreign Office, December 19, 1867. 
 
 " Gentlemen, — Your letter of the 14th August last, request- 
 ing information on certain points connected with the employment, by 
 British subjects, of slave labour at Zanzibar, having, by Lord 
 Stanley's direction, been referred for the consideration of the 
 proper Law Officers of the Crown, I am now directed by his Lord- 
 ship to make known to you the opinion of Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment upon several of the points touched upon in your letter. 
 
 "As regards the contract agreed to in 1864* between your 
 firm and the Sultan of Zanzibar, having for its object the cultiva- 
 tion of sugar plantations in that island, I am to state to you that the 
 
 * Drawn up by Lieutenant- Colonel Play fair.
 
 13 
 
 contract in question is not, by the law of this country, an illegal or 
 invalid contract, and that British subjects entering into contracts 
 with natives who may hold slaves in Zanzibar, similar in tenor to 
 the contract of 1864, will not infringe the law of this country. 
 
 " In the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, as at present 
 advised, there is nothing to prevent a British subject, out of Her 
 Majesty's dominions, employing a slave as his servant or labourer, 
 so long as such employment does not involve a deahng or trading 
 in purchase, sale, barter, or transfer, carrying away, removing, 
 &c., of such slave. Such employment would not appear to be 
 forbidden by the Act v., George lY., nor by any other Statute. 
 
 " The purchase of slaves by a British subject, within or with- 
 out Her Majesty's dominions, even in a country where the sale 
 is sanctioned by the territorial law, is, however. Her Majesty's 
 Government apprehend, clearly forbidden by British law to any 
 of Her Majesty's subjects. 
 
 " The purchase of a slave in a foreign country by a British 
 subject being thus prohibited, an important question for considera- 
 tion is, whether a transfer, by a native to a British subject, of 
 slaves — e.g., for a term of years, or for the Hves of the slaves — to 
 be employed in the foreign country, &c., which the slaves are {sic), 
 is such a 'transfer' as is contemplated by the Acts. Her 
 Majesty's Government are disposed to think that it would be such 
 a transfer, and that contracts for supplying slave labour, where 
 particular slaves are made over to the British subjects for particu- 
 lar terms or periods, to be under the control of the latter, and in 
 his possession, are forbidden by the Statute. 
 
 " Where the contract, as in the case of the one concluded by your 
 firm in 1864 with the Sultan of Zanzibar, provides that the latter 
 is to find a certain number of labourers to be employed for the 
 benefit, or partial benefit, of the former, there would, in the opinion 
 of Her Majesty's Government, be no ' transfer ' within the Act, and 
 such contract would not appear to violate the Acts. 
 
 " As regards your request to be informed whether there is any 
 mode of employing slave labour in Zanzibar by British subjects 
 which would be permitted by Her Majesty's Government, Lord 
 Stanley desires me to state that he must decline to express any 
 opinion as to whether a particular mode of employment of slaves 
 would or would not be illegal ; for it is obvious that there are
 
 14 
 
 many contracts which might be entered into for the employment 
 of slaves which, upon their face, might not appear to violate British 
 law, the carrying out of which, however, might involve the 
 British subject in an infringement of the Statutes." 
 
 (Signed) (Signature illegible).* 
 
 I have but one further remark to make regarding my contracts 
 for slave labour, and that is, that it is self-evident, whatever 
 technical error of law was made in framing them, they were 
 dictated by no narrow views of self-interest nor lust of gain. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Playfair's exemplar was before me, if my 
 object was to secure slave labour, as a slave-holder ; and in rejecting 
 it, and striving to attain to a juster and more humane compact, lay 
 my error— but one which I am not ashamed of having committed. 
 It will be easily understood that, In guaranteeing the manu- 
 mission of the slaves employed by my firm after five years* 
 service, the advantages secured by this arrangement to the slaves 
 were infinitely greater, and more certain than any they could offer 
 in return. 
 
 During their five years of probation they could not fail to learn 
 something of the decencies of civilized life, to appreciate habits of 
 order and industry, and form domestic ties in the new country to 
 which they had been brought, without which slavery to the African 
 is unendurable, and freedom no boon. Such changes, however, 
 were not to be accomplished in a day, nor in a year. In fact, five 
 years was not too long an interval to allow for training the wild, 
 uncultured people I had to deal with, to live by their own resources 
 comfortably and respectably; and during that interval the work 
 they could-perform in return was but of small value. 
 
 The bo7id fide character of my contracts having been placed 
 beyond question by the fact of their oflScial registration, is it not 
 clear that in ignorantly breaking the law by " compassing the 
 freedom " of the slaves, I had their benefit fully as much at heart 
 as any advantage to be derived therefrom by my firm ?— the only 
 hold I could hope to secure over the people by the time they ob- 
 tained their freedom being their attachment to the new homes 
 formed for them, and their appreciation of kind and hberal treat- 
 
 * I have since been informed it is that of " G. C. Egerton."— H. F.
 
 15 
 
 ment which I hoped to secure for them while in the employment of 
 my firm. 
 
 Having now, gentlemen, unreservedly laid before you the entire 
 details of my connexion with the employment of slave labour, 
 which completely refute the statements of the Rev. Horace Waller, 
 I claim from you the rehabihtation of my character as fully and as 
 promptly as may be in your power, as the only reparation you can 
 make for the great injury you have inflicted on me by publishing 
 and placing on record statements that were confessedly not evi- 
 dence, falsely accusing me of having committed various scandalous 
 acts. 
 
 I have the honour to be. Gentlemen, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 H. A. ERASER. 
 
 Zanzibar, 1st January, 1872. 
 
 N.B.— In Speke's " Journal of the Discovery of the Nile," p. 13, 
 the author says, " Having gone to work again, I found that Sheikh 
 Said had brought ten men, four of whom were purchased for one 
 hu7idred dollars^ which I had to pay. Bombay, Eriz, and Rahan 
 had brought twenty-six more, all freed men ; while the Sultan 
 Majid, at the suggestion of Colonel Rigby, gave me thirty- four men 
 more, who ivere all raiv labourers, taken from his gardens" — i.e., 
 slaves. 
 
 In the ''Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia," Sir Samuel Baker men- 
 tions that, being iu want of a woman to grind corn and make bread, 
 he purchased the freedom of a Galla slave for that purpose {vide 
 p. 275 and ante) for thirty-five dollars. 
 
 Most certainly neither of the gentlemen in question were aware 
 that they were acting illegally, and as certainly no Playfair has 
 appeared to prosecute them for felony, nor any Rev. Horace 
 Waller for thus " directly encouraging the Slave Trade." 
 
 H. E.
 
 16 
 
 STATEMENT BY DR. JAMES CHRISTIE. 
 
 In August, 1865, I entered into an agreement with Captain 
 Praser, who represented the firm of Messrs. H. A. Eraser and Co., 
 Zanzibar, to proceed to that place in my capacity as a medical man. 
 
 Capt. Eraser explained to me that his firm had a large establish- 
 ment at Zanzibar, consisting of a mercantile house and a factory 
 for the manufacture of cocoa-nut oil in town, and also a sugar estate 
 at a distance of about twenty- five miles, on which a large number 
 of negroes were employed, and that my duty would be to attend to 
 the European and native staff both in town and on the estate, with 
 liberty to engage in general practice. 
 
 It was also fully explained to me that the reason for entering 
 into such an arrangement was, that it was impossible for him to 
 secure adequate medical attendance in Zanzibar for the negroes 
 employed on the estate at Kokotoni, as he was most anxious to do, 
 there being at the time about 400, many of whom were suffering 
 from various diseases. He also stated that the operations at Kokotoni 
 were partly tentative, and that, in the event of the manufacture of 
 sugar proving rumunerative, the number of those employed would 
 be largely increased ; and that his firm wished to do various things 
 for the comfort and improvement of the negroes, such as by the 
 engagement of a medical man for the exclusive use of the establish- 
 ment, the providing of means of education, the improvement of 
 the native dwellings, and, in general, the establishment of a colony 
 of free negroes to be gradually trained up for agricultural pursuits 
 and as skilled labourers. 
 
 I received from Captain Eraser carte hlanche to draw upon his 
 firm for all necessary medicines and instruments. 
 
 On arriving at Zanzibar at the beginning of December, 1865, I 
 proceeded to Kokotoni, and found the estate under the charge of 
 Mr. E. Bishop, who was formerly an officer in the Indian Navy. 
 Mr. Bishop was the only European then resident on the estate, 
 and under him there were several hired men, principally natives of 
 Johanna and Comoro, who were responsible for carrying out his 
 orders, and who acted as head men over sections of the people j but 
 even at that time the principle had been introduced of employing 
 the more reliable of the negroes themselves as head men. 
 
 On inquiring regarding the condition of the negroes, I ascer-
 
 17 
 
 tained that none of them were natives of Zanzibar ; that shortly 
 before, from one to two years, they had been brought as slaves to 
 Zanzibar, and sold to Arabs in the ordinary course of the traffic, 
 and that Messrs. H. A. Eraser and Co., having made arrangements 
 with their masters, employed them on their sugar estate. 
 
 The negroes appeared to me to be engaged on the most favour- 
 able terms, as regards their own interests, that one could imagine ; 
 they being nominally slaves, but virtually free. Their former 
 masters were to be paid at the rate of half-a-dollar per month for 
 each slave, during a period of five years, for which the people were 
 engaged ; but they were to have no control whatever over them, 
 and no power of interference was allowed, the negroes being under 
 the superintendence of Messrs. H. A. Eraser and Co. only. A 
 notoriously bad character, or one who refused to work, could be 
 returned to his master, and would thereby forfeit the advantages 
 secured to him by the engagement entered into on his behalf ; but 
 those who behaved ordinarily well were retained on the estate, and 
 at the termination of five years they were to receive their liberty. 
 Captain Eraser's idea was that it would require five^ years' training 
 to fit the slaves to maintain themselves as freedmen in Zanzibar, 
 by acquiring habits of order and industry necessary to enable them 
 to procure a respectable livehhood, and to appreciate fully their 
 position as freedmen. 
 
 The negroes themselves understood the nature of the arrange- 
 ment entered into on their behalf, and that they were entitled to 
 their complete liberty at the termination of the period mentioned. 
 They also knew that, if they preferred doing so, they were at 
 perfect liberty either to return to their former masters or to leave 
 the estate and take their chance elsewhere. As a matter of fact, 
 the number of those thus disposed, and of those who have 
 absconded, is very trifling during the last six years* At first it 
 was occasionally necessary, as a matter of punishment, to return 
 one occasionally to his master; but when put to hard work in 
 towuj he returned to Kokotoni in a few days, requesting to be 
 taken back; 
 
 When first brought to the estate, they were mere savages, unfit 
 for anything but the rudest work. Many of them were diseased, 
 and after their arrival were attacked by various diseases, such ^s 
 fever, dysentery, and a very severe form of ulceration, principally
 
 18 
 
 on the feet and legs, and often ending in death. Taking into 
 account their reduced physical state on arrival, the mortality was 
 never high ; and during no year has the mortality ever reached the 
 fearful proportion common to the liberated slaves landed at Aden, 
 nor have the prevalent diseases been the same. 
 
 On my arrival I resided on the estate nearly two months, and 
 seeing that a very large number required constant medical attend- 
 ance, and that this would be the case for at least six months, I 
 had all the sick removed to town. Their proper care was a 
 very difficult task, as they were exceedingly filthy in their habits, 
 and it was extremely difficult to get the convalescent to do anything 
 for those requiring great attention. Many of them came from the 
 same place, and belonged to the same tribe, but they seemed utterly 
 indifferent regarding each other. I was not prepared to see this, 
 as I thought that a common affliction — viz., slavery — would have 
 produced a common sympathy. Tn course of time they were all 
 removed to Kokotoni, where the sick were placed in hospital, medi- 
 cines being supplied, with written directions for their treatment. 
 Afterwards I visited the place at intervals, and corresponded with 
 the manager regarding the health of the people and the treatment 
 of special cases. On my first visit there were, out of about 400 
 negroes, 120 on the sick-roll, and requiring constant medical attend- 
 ance, and on my last visit there were four in hospital. During that 
 time everything suggested by me to the firm was at once acceded to. 
 Since I first came to the place there has been a great change for 
 the better in the condition of the people in every respect. At the 
 time of their manumission by the late Sultan not one elected to 
 leave the estate. They all remained, and do so till now, on the 
 same terms as formerly. They form a distinct class among the 
 negroes on that part of the island, and do not associate much with 
 the slaves of the Arabs. 
 
 The progress made by these people in the short space of six years 
 is wonderful, and Messrs. H. A. i^raser and Co. have solved the 
 problem completely, as to what can be done with negroes, in such 
 a short space of time, who have lived till the age of maturity in a 
 savage state. 
 
 At the present time there is at Kokotoni a large factory, in 
 which the manufacture of sugar, oil, soap, and coir [fibre is carried 
 on. Powerful steam machinery drives the sugar mill, its accessories,
 
 19 
 
 the hydraulic oil presses, and also the fibre machinery. There are 
 about 420 manumitted negroes employed, all of them having been 
 slaves not formerly employed at Zanzibar. Now, there is only one 
 European resident on the estate, and one hired man, a native of 
 Comoro. They have acquired a fair knowledge of all the different 
 branches of industry engaged in on the estate, and are in reality in 
 many cases skilled labourers. Besides superintending and repair- 
 ing the machinery, and carrying on the manufacture of sugar, oil, 
 soap, and fibre, there are amongst them good masons, carpenters, 
 coopers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, &c. 
 
 They have, in general, selected their own occupations, and they 
 are all paid according to their abilities. From the first they all 
 received food, clothing, &c., and a weekly payment as good conduct 
 money, except in the case of those who may have neglected their 
 work. At one time they were paid in money, but they all, in a 
 short time after, requested that the former arrangement should be 
 reverted to, as they confessed that they squandered their money, 
 and that after a few days they had nothing left wherewith to pur- 
 chase provisions. 
 
 Many of them are very liberally paid. A few days ago I saw 
 two of these men, and questioned them on the subject. One of 
 them, who works as a cooper in the oil factory in town, said that 
 his pay was six dollars per month, and the other, who works as a 
 cooper at Kokotoni, said that he had food, clothing, house, &c., for 
 himself and wife, and twelve pice daily, equal to nearly fivepence 
 per day. He said that he had come to town to learn from his 
 friend how to joint the oil casks, as he did not properly understand 
 it, and that he wished to get back to Kokotoni as soon as possible, 
 as he had a wife and two children there. 
 
 I saw both of these men on the day on which they were landed 
 as slaves at Zanzibar, about five and a-half years ago, and since 
 that time they have been in the employment of Messrs. H. A. 
 Fraser and Co. That this scale of pay is liberal, is evident from 
 the fact that in Zanzibar free labourers, employed as household 
 servants, &c., except in particular cases, get from two and a-half 
 to four dollars per month. 
 
 I have not heard of any serious cases of complaint against the 
 managers. On one occasion a charge of cruelty was brought 
 against a manager of another estate worked by the firm, but since
 
 20 
 
 given up, who had been formerly employed on estates in Bourbon 
 and Mauritius. On the charge being substantiated he was im- 
 mediately dismissed by Captain Fraser. 
 
 All complaints made — and the negroes had always liberty to come 
 to town to make their complaints — were at once redressed when 
 found just. 
 
 During the crop and planting season, when a large increase in the 
 number of labourers is required, the fact requires simply to be 
 made known to bring hundreds from the neighbouring Arab 
 estates to work for hire on the two days in the week allotted to 
 them by Arab usage ; and so far from jealousy existing on the part 
 of the Arabs, quite the reverse is the case. I know as a fact that 
 all the Arab proprietors in the neighbourhood of Kokotoni have 
 from first to last maintained the most friendly relations with 
 Captain Fraser, which certainly would not have been the case had 
 they viewed his operations with distrust or ill-will. 
 
 JAMES CHRISTIE, A.M., M.D. 
 Zanzibar, January 1, 1872. 
 
 London : w. j. johnson, fkintee, 121, fleet street

 
 
 
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