Document 4: Proclamation on the Conquest of Kano, 1903

I emphatically forbade all slave raiding and all transactions in slaves, while saying that it was not my intention to interfere with the existing domestic slaves; but these would, like any one else in the land, at any time, have a right to appeal to the Resident, and, if they proved cruelty on the part of their masters, would be liberated. We recognized, I said, no less than they did that labouring classes must exist, and I had no desire to convert the existing farm and other labourers into vagrants, idlers, and thieves, but I hope that they would by and by see the advantage of paid free labour, which we considered more profitable and better than slave labour.¹