ABSTRACT
ON the East Coast of Africa, there were released 1071 slaves in the year 1868, and
in the following year 1108, this latter number was perhaps the largest that had been set free for many years, and so alarmed the Indian authorities for fear, I presume, that it should rouse the anger of the Imaum of Muscat, and the petty chiefs of Arabia and the Persian Gulf, that a Commission was organized to inquire into the circumstances attending the captures. I have not seen the Report or the evidence given before that Commission, and I gather
from the letter of Admiral Sir Leopold Heath, which accompanied his observations on that Report (See Blue-Book, C.B. 1870), that he had not seen the evidence either, and I further gather from that letter that that Commission reported that many mistakes and improper seizures were made by officers; as I am not one of those to whom these charges can refer, seeing that the vessels we captured had slaves on board and were condemned, I may perhaps be allowed to show that the mistakes, if any, were on the part of those who had given evidence before the Commission.
