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1. Mission to Shoa
- Description:
- Abstract: This part of the volume consists of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 51 of 1841, dated 18 June 1841. The enclosures are dated 14 May to 18 June 1841, and mainly consist of correspondence, regarding the mission to the King of Shoa [Shewa] under Captain William Cornwallis Harris.The main correspondents are as follows: the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, John Pollard Willoughby; Captain Harris; and the Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines.The correspondence discusses matters including: arrangements for the mission, including the views of the Government of India on the selection of Captain Harris as head of the mission, and of the selection of other members of the mission, and the expenses of the mission; the pay and allowances of Captain Harris and the other officers of the mission; the intended departure from Aden to Tadjoura of the mission; the Governor of Bombay’s disapproval at Haines attaching Lieutenant Barker of the Indian Navy, and Dr Impey, to the mission without his sanction; the arrival at Aden of Captain Harris; news of the arrival of the mission at Tadjoura [Tadjourah], and the reception it met with; and the Political Agent at Aden being authorised to draw bills on the General Treasury at Bombay for the supply of his Treasury during the monsoon.Physical description: There is an abstract of contents of the despatch, numbered 1-7, on folio 40. These numbers are repeated for reference on the last verso of each enclosure.
2. Instructions to the Officer in Command of the Squadron Ordered on Duty to Aden, and the Slave Trade between the East Coast of Africa and Persian Gulf and Red Sea Ports
- Description:
- Abstract: This part of the volume consists of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 25 of 1841, dated 31 March 1841. The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence dated 22 to 31 March 1841.The correspondence concerns: instructions for the Officer in Command of the Squadron ordered on duty to Aden, for the purpose of strengthening British influence in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf; and the suppression of the slave trade between the East Coast of Africa and several ports on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.The correspondence is between the Secretary to the Government of Bombay (John Pollard Willoughby) and the following: the Secretary to the Government of India (Thomas Herbert Maddock); the Officer in Command of HM Naval Force proceeding to the Red Sea; the Political Agent at Aden (Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines); the Resident in the Persian Gulf (Samuel Hennell); and the British Agent at Muscat (Captain Atkins Hamerton).Physical description: There is a list of enclosures, numbered 1-5, on folio 616.
3. Yemen, Zeila and Tadjoura Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This part of the volume consists of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 10 of 1841, dated 28 February 1841. The enclosures are dated 21 January to 26 February 1841.The enclosures mainly consist of copies of correspondence relating to events in Aden, Mocha (also spelled Mokha in this item), Hodeida [Al Hudaydah], Zeila (also spelled Zeyla), and Tadjoura (also spelled Tajoura and Tedjoura).The main correspondent is the Political Agent at Aden (Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines). Letters from Haines to the Secretary to the Government of Bombay (John Pollard Willoughby) also include enclosed letters from the following: the Imaum of Senna [Imam of Sanaa], Said Mahomed [Al-Hadi Muhammad]; Lieutenant-Colonel G Wilson, Commanding the troops at Aden; and Charles Tilstone Beke.The enclosures relate to matters including:The postponement of the modification of the Treaty with the Chief of Zeila by Haines, due to the unsettled state of affairs at MochaThe minerals and soil of TadjouraHaines having requested the services of the East India Company’s brig of war Euphratesand schooner of war ConstanceCaptain H Stiles, the Bazaar Master, having been shot at by a Bedouin of the Yahmany [Yemeni] division of the Abdali tribe outside the Field Works at Aden, while riding out with several other officers beyond the prescribed limitsThe sanction of the Governor-General of India in Council to the appointment of Mr J Hatchatoor as British Agent at Tadjoura, on a salary of 300 Rupees per month.Physical description: There is an abstract of contents of the despatch, numbered 1-9, on folios 1-2. These numbers are repeated for reference on the last verso of each enclosure.
4. Aden Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 86 of 1841, dated 29 October 1841. The enclosures are dated 18 April 1839-25 October 1841.The principal correspondents are: Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent, Aden; the Officiating Chief Secretary to the Government, Bombay; and the Secretary to the Government of India. Also included are numerous enclosures and minutes of the Governor and President in Council, Bombay, subscribed to by the Board.The papers notably cover and include the following:A description by Haines of the disruption to kafilas [camel caravans, also spelled kafilahs in this item] of supplies entering Aden ‘in consequence of the continued revengeful, and insulting conduct of the Fouthelee [Faḍlī] and Abdalee ['Abdalī] Tribes’ (f 521), and the Government of Bombay’s agreement to his request for permission to stop supplies by sea entering the ports of any ‘chief’ who is ‘decidedly hostile’ to the British Government, provided there is the naval means to enforce a blockadeA report of the expulsion from Aden of a ‘suspicious’ caravan, under Sheik Mahomed Hyder [Shaikh Muḥammad Ḥaydar] of the Abdalee tribe, and the thwarting of a surprise attack by ‘a body of Arabs’ (f 528) on the ‘outwork’ at the Turkish Wall, including copy of an account of the incident by the officer in charge of the Turkish Wall Out Post (ff 525-533)Papers relating to measures ordered by Haines subsequent to his receipt of permission from the Government of Bombay to act on the offensive against tribes accused of attacking and disrupting the kafilahs bound for Aden. Included are: Haines’s account of the surprise British attack involving the demolition of the town of Newbut Maaidee [Nawbat Mahdi, also spelled Maidee and Mahdee in this item] purportedly the rendezvous point of the Fouthelee ‘chiefs’ planning attacks on Aden, and the destruction of the guard post allegedly erected at Sheik Othman [Ash Shaykh ‘Uthmān, also spelled Shaick in this item] to ‘molest’ the kafilahs bound for Aden (ff 538-542); and copies of Haines’s correspondence with Lieutenant-Colonel William Croker Commanding the Aden force, with related accounts of officers present during the operations (ff 543-551)Agreement of the Governor-General of India with the Governor in Council, Bombay, to increase the police establishment at Aden, and the arrangements to be made by the Superintendent of Police and the Military Board, Bombay, and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy to despatch ten volunteers from the Bombay Police, and equip them with swords and belts (ff 561-570)Instructions issued in October 1841 by the Government of Bombay for sending ‘as an experiment’, twenty or thirty Hindoo [Hindu] convicts to Aden to work on the roads, fortifications and public buildings, including guidance regarding clothing and diet for convicts (ff 616-618). The instructions and tables of guidance are preceded by: copies of correspondence, dated April-November 1839 and July-August 1840, between the Government of Bombay, the Government of India, the Acting Advocate-General, Bombay, and the Superintendent of Police, Bombay, regarding the legality of sending to Aden fifty convicts to be employed on the construction of the public roads, tanks, etc., in connection with a request by Haines (ff 572-605); an analysis by the Acting Advocate-General of the law in relation to transportation sentences (ff 579-588); a memorandum by the Political Secretary, Bombay, summarizing relevant correspondence and decisions up to October 1841; and a letter from the Advocate-General, Bombay, confirming that convicts sent to Aden could afterwards be legally sent to another (British) settlementA report of a visit to Mussawah [Massawa] by Lieutenant Willmott Christopher, commanding the HC [Honourable Company’s] schooner Constance, forwarded to Haines by the Senior Naval Officer at Aden, (ff 623-629), covering affairs in the vicinity including French activities and influenceThe report by Mr J Hatchatoor, the British Agent at Tedjoura [Tadjoura], of the murder of three of his servants and the hostility of the ‘chief’ of that place (ff 636-638), and Haines’s despatch of the Euphratesto assist in finding the perpetrators and to convey Hatchatoor and his staff to AdenPapers and correspondence relating to the misdirection to Ceylon [Sri Lanka] of a packet (mail) from Haines, on the steamer Seaforth, including instructions to the Political Agent that future despatches intended for the Government of Bombay should be sent separately from those intended for distribution by the General Post Office at Bombay, and the Government of Bombay’s recommendation that the post office clerk responsible be fined one month’s salary (ff 648-657)Memorandum by the Officiating Chief Secretary, Bombay, regarding the packets from Calcutta [Kolkata], intended for England by the October mail steamer Cleopatra, which reached the Bombay Presidency a day after the steamer’s departure for Suez (ff 660-665)Memorandum by the Governor-General of India to the Secret Committee (ff 668-672) which: describes ‘the various insults and injuries sustained by the British Government, its servants and subjects at the hands of the present Shariff [Sharīf] of Mocha’; explains the reasons why no action has been taken up until now, including the lack of naval means, failure of the posited overthrow of the Governor of Mocha by the Imam of Senna, and political difficulties in requesting the removal of an official who is endorsed by the government (Ottoman Porte) of a British ally; and proposes that Captain Grey commanding HMS Endymionvisit Mocha to inform the Shariff of how seriously his proceedings are viewed by the Government of India and to attempt to obtain redress without resorting to ‘actual hostility’.Physical description: 1 item (175 folios)
5. Aden Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 77 of 1841, dated 30 September 1841. The enclosures are dated 17 July-28 September 1841.The principal correspondents are: Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent at Aden; the Officiating Chief Secretary to Government, Bombay; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; and the Military Board.The papers cover and include the following matters:A copy of a survey of the ‘coast of Africa in the southward and westward of Aden’, entitled ‘Memorandum to accompany the Chart of the Bay of Tajoorah [Tadjoura], & part of the Coast of the Hebrawul’, by Lieutenant W Barker, Indian Navy, Commanding the HC [Honourable Company’s] brig Euphrates(ff 38-79), forwarded by Haines to the Secretary to the Government, Bombay. Also included are letters from the Acting Secretary to Government, Bombay, to Haines, the Engineers’ Department, Bombay, the Secretary to the Government of India, and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy. The letters acknowledge the ‘memoir’ and map (not included in this item), order and forward copies of the map, and convey the approbation of the Government, Bombay for the ‘zeal and energy’ of Lieutenant BarkerAn application by Haines to the Government of Bombay explaining the need for the appointment of a clerk to aid the Assistant Political Agent (notably with Post Office duties) and listing the current duties of the Assistant and his own duties (ff 87-91), and the refusal of the Government of Bombay to agree to the requestReports by Haines of the disruption to kafilahs [camel caravans] of supplies entering Aden, resulting from violent clashes between divisions of different competing tribes near the frontier of the settlement. Haines notably describes the activities and forces of Sultan M’Houssain Futhel of Lahidge [Muḥsin bin Faḍl al-‘Abdalī, Sultan of Lahej] and the Foudthelee ‘Chief’ [Sultan Aḥmad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Faḍlī], their apparent hostility to the British, and the alleged plan of the Foudthelee ‘Chief’ to attack the field works at AdenMeasures to be pursued as a result of the ‘perseverance exhibited by the Chief of Lahedge in stirring up the other tribes in the neighbourhood to unite with him in hostile attempts against our garrison at Aden’, and the policy to be adopted with respect to the ‘oppressive and unjust treatment of the subjects and dependents of the British Government by the Sheriff [Sharīf] of Mocha’ (f 98)Minute by the Governor in Council, Bombay, concurred in by civil members of the Board (ff 100-102), giving Haines discretionary powers, during the relief of the European portion of the garrison of Aden, to mount an offensive against the tribes in the immediate neighbourhood who are considered hostile to the British Government, including authority to attack Shaick Othman [Ash Shaykh ‘Uthmān] where a post has been erected by ‘the hostile Arabs’ (f 107). Authority is given for military measures provided that: Haines thinks it would be politically expedient; the officer commanding at Aden has the means to undertake it; it will not increase hostility towards the British; and it will not require prolonged operations. Haines is also permitted to take advantage, if necessary, of HMS Endymionin the Red Sea to enforce ‘redress’ from the Sheriff of MochaHaines’s detailed response and justification of his actions, subsequent to a complaint made by the Superintendent of the Indian Navy regarding Haines’s ‘interference’ in the duties of various vessels in the Red Sea, notably delaying the HC [Honourable Company’s] schooner Constancefrom being despatched to Suez with the mails (ff 108-110). Included are copies of Haines’s letters to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy concerning the use of the Euphratesand Constancein connection with Captain William Cornwallis Harris’s mission to Shoa [Shewa] and to monitor and counteract French activities and influence in the vicinity of Zeyla [Zeila] and Tedjoura, and requesting that the HC sloop-of-war Cliveremain at Aden to potentially proceed on ‘secret service’ to Mocha (ff 111-115). The Government of Bombay responds that vessels should ‘not be interfered with except under some great emergency involving the safety of important interests which justify the disregard of ordinary rules altogether on the responsibility of the officer deviating therefrom’ (f 116), and undertake to inform him in future when a vessel is on express orders from GovernmentThe murder of the ‘Arab interpreter named Ahmed’ outside the Turkish Wall at Aden, notably a copy of an account written by Captain George Duff, 10th Regiment Native Infantry, Commanding the Turkish Wall outpost (ff 119-124)Supplies and stores on board the HC brig Palinurus(at Bombay [Mumbai] harbour) including: distribution of the biscuit amongst the Indian Navy vessels in harbour and the steam vessel conveying the relief regiment to and from Aden; instructions for the rest of its provisions to be unloaded; and the lack of room on the steamer proceeding to Suez on 1 September to convey to Aden any portion of military stores on board the Palinurus(ff 125-131)A memorandum recording the present establishment attached to the Palinurusand her proposed employment to convey convicts to Singapoor [Singapore], including a table of foodstuffs ‘of the quantity of diet for convicts’, and a ‘statement shewing the monthly cost of provisions supplied during the voyage to European and native convicts transported from Bombay’ (ff 132-135).Physical description: 1 item (105 folios)