TURKEY. No. 600.-Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to the Earl of Clarendon. (Received May 7.) MY LORD, Constantinople, April 24, 1856. INCLOSED herewith, for your Lordship's information, are copies, in translation, of a letter from the Pasha of Tripoli to the Grand Vizier, and of the Kaimakam Pasha's reply, respecting negro slaves brought down to Tripoli for exportation. Your Lordship will observe that a difficulty exists as to the disposal of those unfortunate creatures who, after reaching Tripoli, are left in the hands of their owners without a prospect of sale. It is very desirable that the measures adopted with a view to prevent the entrance of the slaves into the territory of Tripoli should be enforced in such manner along the interior frontier as to discourage the dealers from persisting in the odious traffic of their fellow-creatures. I have, &c. The Earl of Clarendon. STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. (Inclosure 1.)-The Governor of Tripoli to the Grand Vizier. (Translation.) Tripoli in the West, February 22, 1856. and your I HAD the honour of receiving on the Highness's two despatches, dated stating that the purchase and sale of slaves had been prohibited by Imperial order, and instructing me in consequence to take measures for preventing any slaves from among the blacks being brought into the Province of Tripoli, or any whatever being sent to the capital. I shall act in strict conformity with His Imperial Majesty's orders. With respect to the non-importation of black slaves into the Province of Tripoli West, the slave-dealers were prohibited from going to that quarter a year ago, as well as the other traders. Nevertheless, last year a set of black and other traders lately crossed the desert, and a large number of slaves were brought to the Sandjacks of Bengazi and Fezzan, to the Qazas of Djebel Garb, which will not be permitted to be conveyed to Constantinople. It is painful to reflect that owing to the great scarcity of provisions in this country, these slaves must perish at the ports of embarkation; but proclamation will be made to the slave-dealers and other merchants, forbidding them to import black slaves in future as far as practicable, and they shall likewise be prevented from being conveyed to the capital. (Inclosure 2.)—The Grand Vizier to the Governor of Tripoli. (Translation.) April 19, 1856. NOTWITHSTANDING that, on the general proclamation of the prohibition established by order of His Imperial Majesty against the purchase and sale of slaves, your Excellency was peremptorily instructed more than once to take prompt and efficacious measures for fully enforcing this prohibition, and to exercise a strict vigilance in this respect, information has been received that again lately a party of slaves was exported from within the Province of Tripoli West, sent to Cyprus, and there sold. It is needless to repeat to you the instructions which have been repeatedly sent to you at length. This traffic in slaves is not only contrary to the dictates of humanity, but is provocative, likewise, of representations from abroad, and it is therefore highly important that the instructions should be carried fully into effect, and the trade put an end to altogether. You will thus sedulously persevere in giving full course to all measures of efficacy which may be necessary in that quarter for putting it vigorously down. The main point is to prevent the importation of these slaves into the Province of Tripoli, and you are instructed to issue peremptory orders to the authorities at all the ports and passes to attend most scrupulously to the means of carrying this into effect without fail. No. 601.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. MY LORD, Foreign Office, May 13, 1856. I HAVE received your Excellency's despatch of the 24th ultimo, inclosing translations of a correspondence between the Grand Vizier and the Pasha of Tripoli, respecting the traffic in negro slaves carried on in that Regency; and I have to instruct your Excellency to observe to the Grand Vizier, that it appears to Her Majesty's Government that the best mode of putting an end to this traffic would be to direct the Governor of Tripoli to inflict summary punishment upon the slave-dealers who disobey the Sultan's decrees, and to make them pay for the support of any slaves who may hereafter be brought by them from the interior to Tripoli. H.E. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. I am, &c. CLARENDON. No. 602.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. MY LORD, Foreign Office, May 28, 1856. I TRANSMIT herewith a copy of a despatch which I have received from Her Majesty's Consul-General at Tripoli, stating that a decree has been issued prohibiting for ever the exportation of negro [1856-57. XLVII.] 3 Q slaves from all the ports of that Regency, but adding, that the Pasha has recommended the Porte to suspend the enforcement of the decree in question until the month of March, 1857. I have to instruct your Excellency to express to the Ottoman Minister for Foreign Affairs the hope of Her Majesty's Government that the suggestions of the Pasha of Tripoli as to the suspension of this decree may not be adopted by the Porte. &c. H.E. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. CLARENDON. I am, No. 606.-Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to the Earl of Clarendon. (Received July 22.) MY LORD, Constantinople, July 10, 1856. THE intelligence contained in the despatch from Her Majesty's Consul at Tripoli, a copy of which I inclose herewith, is but too completely in keeping with other notices of persistence in the Slave Trade between that province and Turkey, which, of late, have reached your Lordship as well as myself. I have lost no time in bringing Colonel Herman's statement to the knowledge of the Porte, and the letter to Fuad Pasha, with which I have accompanied it, is forwarded herewith, in copy, for your Lordship's information. The Earl of Clarendon, I have, &c. STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. (Inclosure.)-Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to Fuad Pasha. M. LE MINISTRE, Péra, le 10 Juillet, 1856. J'AI eu l'honneur de vous adresser à plusieurs reprises relativement au commerce d'esclaves, qui, malgré la défense proclamée par Sa Majesté le Sultan, continue à se maintenir activement entre les côtes de Tripoli et les ports Ottomans de l'Archipel. Je me suis fait un devoir en outre de vous fournir divers rapports et d'autres documents tendant à constater l'existence de ce trafic désastreux. Votre Excellence m'a fait assurer plus d'une fois que la Porte s'occupe sérieusement de la question, et que vous serez bientôt dans le cas de me faire connaître le résultat de ses déliberations. Respectant les occupations nombreuses de votre Excellence, j'attends, mais non sans impatience, le moment où elle sera à même d'entrer en matière avec moi relativement aux moyens de mettre fin, une fois pour toutes, à un mal qui est trop douloureusement connu pour que l'on ait besoin de le charactériser ici. Je vous prie de vouloir bien me faire savoir, un moment plustôt, quand les obstacles qui ont retardé jusqu'ici le dénouement de cette affaire, seront écartés de manière que nous puissions en effectuer la solution d'une manière convenable. Mon Gouvernement s'intéresse vivement à toutes les phases et à toutes les branches de cette question importante. Je profite de cette occasion pour attirer l'attention de votre Excellence à la communication ci-jointe qui m'est arrivée de Tripoli, et qui vient à l'appui de mes représentations tant de fois réitérées. Je saisis, &c. Fuad Pasha. STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. No. 607.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. MY LORD, Foreign Office, July 28, 1856. I HAVE received your Excellency's despatch of the 10th instant, inclosing a copy of a note which you addressed to Fuad Pasha respecting the Slave Trade which is carried on between the coasts of Tripoli and the Ottoman ports of the Archipelago, and I approve the representation which your Excellency addressed to the Turkish Government in this matter. The importance and urgency of effectual measures being taken for the suppression of this traffic are shown by the reports which some of the British Consular Agents in the Levant have recently forwarded to your Excellency, as well as to Her Majesty's Government, and, more particularly, by a despatch which I have received from Mr. Campbell, in which he informs me that he has reported to your Excellency the landing of 44 slaves at the Island of Scio by the Ottoman brig Masgaout, from Bengazi, and that the masters of Turkish vessels, in order to elude the law, are in the habit of having the slaves which they embark put down in the ships' articles as passengers. I am, &c. H.E. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. CLARENDON. No. 608.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. MY LORD, Foreign Office, August 8, 1856. I INCLOSE, for your Excellency's information, a copy of a despatch which I have addressed to Her Majesty's Consuls at the places noted in the margin,* respecting the trade in negro slaves which is carried on from the coasts of Tripoli. I am, &c. H.E. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. CLARENDON. No. 610.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. (Extract.) Foreign Office, September 29, 1956. I TRANSMIT herewith, for your Excellency's information, a copy of a despatch dated the 12th ultimo, with its inclosures, addressed by the Government of Bombay to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, together with a copy of a despatch dated the 2nd July, addressed by Her Majesty's Vice-Consul at Jeddah to the Bombay Government, on the subject of the Slave Trade carried on by Turkish vessels in the Red Sea. * Smyrna, Rhodes, Canea, Salonica, Dardanelles, Prevesa. And I have to instruct your Excellency to take such steps as you may deem advisable, with a view to induce the Porte to empower the Commanders of Her Majesty's cruizers, and of those of the Honourable East India Company employed in the Red Sea, to act in the suppression of the Slave Trade carried on under the Turkish flag. H.E. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. CLARENDON. (Inclosure 1.)-The Government of Bombay to the Court of Directors. (Extract.) Bombay, August 12, 1856. WE beg to forward to your Honourable Committee copies of two letters from Brigadier Coghlan, Political Resident and Commandant at Aden, dated the 6th and 19th ultimo, pointing out the difficulties which, under existing circumstances, beset all measures which may be adopted for the suppression of the Slave Trade conducted in vessels under the Turkish flag. As connected with this question, we have also the honour to bring to the notice of your Honourable Committee the remarks of Mr. Page, the Acting Vice-Consul at Jeddah, in his letter dated the 2nd ultimo, upon the state of the Slave Trade in the Hedjaz, and upon the means by which it may be suppressed. This letter forms one of the inclosures to our despatch by this mail, dated the 9th instant. We do not think it would be necessary, or indeed possible, to obtain the permission of the Porte to seize slaves in the harbours of Hodeida, Jeddah, &c., or after they have landed, but we consider that, with the right of searching vessels under Turkish and Arab colours, outside the harbour, and with clear instructions for the guidance of the officers of the Indian navy, it will be perfectly possible to check, and ultimately to suppress, this traffic. (Inclosure 2.)—Brigadier Coghlan to the Secretary to the Bombay Government. (Extract.) July 6, 1856. I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 10th ultimo, on the subject of the suppression of the Slave Trade, and with reference to paragraph 4, I am of opinion that the instructions therein alluded to, though complete as to the manner in which slavers belonging to the subjects of the Imaum of Muscat and certain Arab Chiefs are to be disposed of, are on the whole unsatisfactory, and that the silence observed as to the course adopted towards vessels sailing under other flags must cause doubt and hesitation in the minds of officers employed in checking the Slave Trade. |