Yes, the “Ari-passa” was restored, because there was a British consul there to protect her; but how many “Ari-passas” have been seized and plundered without redress! Some portion of the money which had been robbed from this vessel could not be found when restoration was ordered; this was put down to the soldiers, who had been compared to the companions of Wellington; but the Banyan appeared well contented with what was given back to him, and begged me to let the matter drop.
It is necessary to show how this affair affected the owner of the “Ari-passa.” In consequence of her seizure, and the delay in restoring the vessel, she could not get away from Mozambique for her return voyage to Bombay, whither she was bound, until late in the month of September. On the voyage across the Indian Ocean the south-west monsoon failed her, and she was obliged to bear up for Zanzibar, from which place she returned to Mozambique in the month of December, 1857. She was in Mozambique harbour during the hurricane on the 1st of April, 1858, during which she suffered considerable damage, and was nearly lost. Had she reached Bombay in the end of 1857, her valuable cargo would have arrived at a good market; but as she could not leave Mozambique until after the setting in of the south-west monsoon, she did not reach her destination until late in 1858, when we all know she found a depreciated market for her cargo, owing to the Indian mutiny. Add to this the loss sustained by the depreciation of the value of her cargo by being so long in her hold, the wages and keep of her crew, and the loss of the vessel’s earnings during twelve months.
At Mozambique I obtained her release; and the same sense of duty to my country induces me to make the affair known in England, in order that the merchants of Great Britain may urge upon the British government that redress to which the mercantile community of this country are entitled. Be it remembered that these dhows frequenting Mozambique from Bombay, and other places in India, are laden with British goods sent to supply the Indian markets, and thence exported to East Africa.
I have already mentioned that when at Natal, on my way to Mozambique, a deputation from the Chamber of Commerce of Natal did me the honour of waiting upon me, in order to bring forcibly before my notice the great desire of the enterprising merchants of that young and energetic colony to trade with the neighbouring Portuguese possessions, and to explain the great and apparently insurmountable obstacles to carrying on any relations with the rich tract of country lying between Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay.
The following letter, among others, was addressed to me by Mr. Cato of that place:—
(Copy.)
“Port Natal, 6th July, 1857.
“Dear Sir,