The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1888. THE ZANZIBAR DIFFICULTY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2000, 29 November 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1888. THE ZANZIBAR DIFFICULTY.

The operations now being conducted at Zanzibar, concerning which some 1 information was afforded m our cablej grams of yesterday, appear to be twoI fold, both m their origin and character, i The cause of British and Turkish interrention m connection with Germany is - the slave trade of East Africa, one of the means to the extirpation of which is the blockade of the coastal ports now m process of being carried into effect by a combined squadron. . Already we hear of seven slave dhows having been captured, and of 1500 runaway slaves who had taken shelter at an English mission being protected and cared for. But Gormany hoc anotnor object m viovr iv addition to the humane desire to assist m putting down the slave trade of East Africa, viz., to secure for the German East African Trading and Colonising Company the possession of the seaports which were recently made over to the Company by the Sultan of Zanzibar ; who has, it is said indeed, abdicated accepting a pension and giving the con • trol of his dominions very largely to the German authorities. It, howerer, does not appear that his subjects are willing quietly to submit to the transfer, and hence to a great extent the motire of German interference. Writing of the position, under date London September 28, the correspondent of the Melbourne " Age " gives the following particulars : — " Just as Germany wa« about to take possession of tho seaports on the mainland which the Sultan of Zanzibar had made over to the German East African Company, the discovery was made that it will be requisite to subjugate them. Nowhere on tho coast can the Company obtain a peaceful foothold. The first manifestations of hostility to their new masters was made by the residents at Panganui, who, to mark their resentment at having been made over by their suzerain without their consent, not only resisted the landing of the Germans, but expelled tho Bultan's representative. The German Admiral afterwards landed a number of men-of-war's men at Bagamoyo, and this force attacked the hostile natives, killing one hundred and twenty of them. In a third affair at Kilwa, two Germans were killed. These events have produced a profound sensation at Berlin, where arrangements were m progress for despatching an expedition for the relief of Emm Pasha, to start from this disturbed coast, and to pass through the possessions (on paper) of tho East African Company. Tho Vossische, an influential Berlin journal, now declares the despatch of an expeditiqn by this route to be impracticable. llfit is true, says the editor, ' that the bitter feelings Against the German Company have readied the degree indicated by the English reports, and has rendered it imposiible for the Company to take possession of the Customs stations assigned to it, the scheme of the Emm expedition is based on air. The project of uniting the Soudan and the Lakes territory with the coast can be attained only if tho uniting factor itself poßsees a firm chain of stations between such points." This the Company evidently s unable to accomplish — hence very largely tbe action whiph has been taken by Germany, and tjje result of which will probably bo the establishment of Gorman rule and authority over a largo portion of the territory heretofore ruled by the Sultans of Zanzibar.