The ‘Hostility’ of the Sherriff of Mocha

Title:

The ‘Hostility’ of the Sherriff of Mocha

Date:

1843/1843

Description:

Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 32 of 1843, dated 1 May 1843. The enclosures are numbered 3-10 and are dated 14 November 1842 to 27 April 1843.The majority of the item consists of a summary (enclosure No. 3) of the proceedings of the Government of Bombay in response to the perceived hostilities committed by the Sherriff [Sharif] of Mocha, Hussain ben Ali Hyder [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī Ḥaydar], and his brother Hamood [Ḥammūd] against British subjects, following the Sherriff taking possession of the sea ports of Mocha and Hodeida [Al Hudaydah], following the evacuation of those places by the troops of Mahomed Ali Pasha [Muḥammad ‘Alī Pāshā al-Mas‘ūd bin Āghā].The ‘hostilies’ set out in the summary include the Sherriff of Mocha ordering that: the British flag which was hoisted in front of the house of the Acting Native Agent at Mocha, Abdool Russool [‘Abd al-Rasūl], be pulled down; no Englishmen be permitted to land armed; no supplies be provided to British or Honourable Company’s Government vessels without payment of duties; and all British merchants trading with Mocha and Hodeida should in future pay nine per cent duty instead of the customary duty of two and a half per cent.The summary also discusses: the Sherriff and his brother, acting as Governor of Mocha, preventing any further supplies being sent from Mocha to Aden and ‘throwing every impediment’ in the way of British commerce; the Sherriff seizing the private property belonging to the Acting Native Agent at Mocha; a Commissioner being appointed by the Sublime Porte [the Government of the Ottoman Empire] to remove the Sherriff, following representations made by the British Government to the Porte; intelligence that an arrangement between the Ottoman Commissioner and Sherriff Hussain has been nearly concluded, whereby the British flag would be re-hoisted and a bond of future friendly conduct towards British subjects would be made; and the view of the Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, that such a conclusion could not be accepted as ‘British dignity would be injured’ if no punishment was inflicted on the Sherriff of Mocha.Copies of the following documents are included in the summary as appendices: a letter from the Political Agent at Aden to the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, John Pollard Willoughby; a letter from the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Stratford Canning, to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Aberdeen; and a treaty between the British Government and the Imaum of Senna [Imam of Yemen at Sana'a], dated 15 January 1821.Enclosure Nos. 4-7 relate to the Government of Bombay soliciting the instructions of the Governor-General of India in response to the application of the Imaum of Senna for British aid in his attempt to recover possession of the ports of Mocha and Hodeida.Enclosure Nos. 8-10 concern: the conduct of HM Consul and Honourable Company’s Agent in the Dominions of the Imaum [Imam] of Muscat (also spelled Muskat in this item), Captain Atkins Hamerton, in relation to the case of the alleged murder of an ‘Arab seaman’, who was a subject of the Imaum of Muscat, by a British seaman, James Dawson; the view of HM Government that the proceedings adopted by Hamerton in the case are illegal, and that his conduct in sanctioning the witnesses against the prisoner being placed in irons during a voyage to Mauritius is entirely disapproved of and highly censured; the Governor in Council directing that Hamerton be cautious in future not to send persons accused of murder to England without direct instructions from the authorities. Enclosure No. 8 includes a letter to Hamerton from the Colonial Secretary, Mauritius, with an enclosed letter from HM Procureur and Advocate General at Mauritius.Physical description: 1 item (82 folios)

Language:

English

Type:

Archival item

Type (Narrower):

Other Texts

Type (Broader):

Text

Subject:

Trade (practice)
Criminal law procedures

Geographic region:

Mocha
Hodeida

Rights:

غير معروف

Identifier:

81055/vdc_100129648892.0x000006_ar
81055/vdc_100129648892.0x000006_en
IOR/L/PS/5/418, ff 220-301
IOR/L/PS/5/418, ff 220-301

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