Now, though it is unquestionable that Mohammedanism permits, and
has hitherto encouraged, slavery as a natural condition of human
society, it is no less true that without the co-operation of the various
Mussulman princes of the African and Arabian coasts its abolition cannot
be effected. Short of the occupation by European garrisons of all the
villages of the Red Sea, and from Gardafui southwards to Mozambique, or,
on the other hand, of the subjection of all independent Moslem
communities in Arabia and elsewhere, a real end, or even a real check,
cannot be put on the traffic except through the co-operation of
Mussulmans themselves. The necessity has, indeed, been completely
recognized in the numerous treaties and arrangements made with the
Sultans of Turkey, Zanzibar, and Oman, and with the Viceroy of Egypt;
and, though I am far from stating that these arrangements are wholly
voluntary on the part of any of the princes, yet their good-will alone
can make the prevention efficient. An excellent proof of this is to be
found in the case of the Turkish Government, which, since its quarrel
with the English, has given full license to the traffic in the Red Sea,
which no means at the disposal of the latter can in any measure check.
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