Note 17 — Chapter IV

At one moment there was an idea of Gordon’s going to Zanzibar, where there were points of difficulty needing solution. I recollect something of this, and that a question had been raised by the Sultan of Zanzibar in regard to the abolition of slavery in his dominions. The Sultan was a very enlightened prince, and would have willingly emancipated the whole of his slaves could he have replaced them with free labourers, and he had made application to the India Office for their consent to employ coolies from Bombay to take their place, and I had some correspondence at the time with Lord Lytton on the matter, though it led to no result.