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1. 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 26 of 1847, dated 15 March 1847. The enclosures are dated 4 January-13 March 1847.The item chiefly comprises communications between Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent at Aden; the Secretary to the Government, Bombay; and the Secretary to the Government of India. Also included are several minutes of the President and Governor in Council, Bombay, concurred with by members in Council or the Board.The papers cover the following matters:The general peaceful state of affairs in the vicinity of Aden and the resulting good communications with the interior and well stocked marketsReports that the Imam of Sana [Sana‘a ] has marched to Taaez [Taiz, also spelled Taez in this item] since the Sherriff [Sharif] of Mocha has made peace with Sheik Ali Homeida [Shaikh ‘Alī Ḥumaydah], that he is levying contributions from the ‘mountain chiefs’, and that his force is reputedly 7000 men strongAffairs concerning the tribes of the neighbourhood, including: a recent disturbance between a number of tribes caused by a ‘misunderstanding concerning transit duties’ (f 574); and an apparent attack by the Azeibies [‘Uzaybī?] on Futhel ibn Hyder [Faḍl bin Ḥaydar] of Seyla and his return attackA report that the Sultan of the Ourlghi tribe has issued orders for his tribe to march westward, causing great concern to the ‘agriculturists’ (farmers) surrounding Lahidge [Lahej] and the Sultan of Lahidge, and Haines’s hope that an invasion will not happen as this would affect the Aden marketThe return to Aden of the HC [Honourable Company’s] Schooner of War Constancefrom Mussowah [Massawa, also spelled Mussowa in this item] and a copy of the commander’s report to Haines (ff 592-594), of his proceedings regarding settlement of the dispute between the Banian merchant and the Turkish [Ottoman] Governor of Mussowah to the satisfaction of both parties. Also included is Haines’s justification for sending the Constanceto Mussowah (f 599), following a request for further particulars from the Bombay GovernmentHaines’s report that he has requested the HC Schooner Tigristo convey Lieutenant Charles John Cruttenden, Assistant Political Agent at Aden, on a tour around the different ports and within the gulf of Aden, whom he has instructed, amongst other things, to: proceed to Berbera and Bulharr [Bulhar] to visit the ‘feuding’ Somali tribes on the African coast and to persuade the Elders into amicable settlements since the feuds are impeding the coastal trade with Aden; investigate obtaining supplies from Maculla [Makalla] in case of an emergency; obtain the property of the late Reverend Thomas Brochman at Shahr [ash-Shihr]; visit Socotra to enquire into the movement of French vessels which have apparently surveyed the island in detail recently; and enquire into the trade in enslaved persons in the region (ff 587-589)The view of the Governor-General of India that the stipend of the Sultan of Lahidg should be forfeited as he was the ‘leader and fomenter of the recent hostilities at Aden’, and should only be renewed after ‘a period of approved good conduct’ (f 581)Soundings taken, by the commander of the Constance, on two sides of the Zebaya [Zubayr] Islands and confirmation that no change in the depth of water there has been found (subsequent to the recent volcanic eruption there) (f 597)The ‘Proposed Draft of Instructions for the guidance of the Political Agent at Aden’ (ff 607-609) regarding police rules, and their transmission to Haines to report how far, in his opinion, they can be made applicable to AdenIn response to Haines’s request for instructions, the Bombay Government’s agreement that the Johannese Chiefs [ruling princes of Anjouan] who are expected to return to Aden next July should be entertained at government expense, but that Haines should arrange a ‘Bugla, or other country craft’ (f 613) to return them to their country as there is no justification for using a government vessel.Physical description: 1 item (45 folios)
2. Aden Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 31 of 1850, dated 25 May 1850. Enclosure Nos. 3-29, dated 27 December 1849 to 24 May 1850, consist of correspondence, and minutes of the Government of Bombay.The enclosures cover matters including:The Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, reporting that the ‘tranquillity’ of the neighbourhood of Aden had been threatened by a serious quarrel between the Sultan of Lahedge [Lahej or Lahij, also spelled Lahidge in this item], Sultan Ali M’Houssain [‘Alī I bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī], and his brother Abdullah, but that it has been settledHaines requesting the sanction of the Government of Bombay for a bill for 156 Rupees one Anna and ten Pies for the pay of an Interpreter employed at the request of the Senior Naval Officer at Aden, Captain John Parke Sanders, commanding the Honourable Company’s sloop of war Elphinstone, to accompany him to Judda [Jeddah], Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] and MochaHaines reporting the return to Aden from Mussowah [Massawa, also spelled Mussowa in this item] of the Honourable Company’s schooner Constance; his immediately sending to Egypt and England the despatches of HM Consul for Abyssinia [the Ethiopian Empire] at Mussowah, Walter Plowden; and Haines stating that he intends to send the vessel back to Mussowah for the protection of British interests thereThe Governor of Bombay in Council confirming that as the ‘Arab Contractor’ Ali Boo Bucker [Alī Abū Bakr, also spelled Ali Boo Bukur in this item] is willing to carry out repairs to the bridge over the Khore Muksa [Khawr Maksar] creek at Aden at his own expense, the superintendence of the Executive Engineer may be dispensed with, and it is not necessary to erect another bridge while that one lasts. The correspondence on this subject includes a letter from the Executive Engineer at Aden to the Commanding Engineer at Aden, with an enclosed ‘PLAN ELEVATION & SECTION of the Old Arab Bridge across the “Khore Maksa”’ (folio 54)Haines submitting an audit to the Government of Bombay on the stipends paid by him in German Crowns to the Sultan of Lahidge and other ‘Arab Chieftains’, and questions raised about whether these stipends should be paid in Company’s Rupees or German Crowns in future, and the rate of exchange of Rupees to German Crowns which should be used.The correspondence (including enclosed correspondence) is between the following: the Government of Bombay; the Political Agent at Aden; the Civil Auditor, Bombay, William Simson; the Military Board, Bombay; the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General; Lieutenant G N Adams commanding the Honourable Company’s schooner Constance; HM Consul for Abyssinia; the Executive Engineer at Aden, Captain William Swainson Suart; the Commanding Engineer at Aden; and the Senior Naval Officer at Aden.Enclosure Nos. 30-31, listed in the abstract of contents as copies of the Bombay Overland Timesand the Bombay Overland Telegraph and Courierdated 25 May 1850, are recorded as missing in a note dated 31 October 1906.Physical description: 1 item (53 folios)
3. Aden Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 130 of 1846, dated 2 November 1846. The enclosures, numbered 3-17 and dated 7 October to 2 November 1846, relate to affairs at Aden and within its vicinity.The enclosures consist of correspondence, and minutes of the Government of Bombay, covering matters including:The Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, reporting that the blockade of Shugra [Shuqra] and the bay around Gibul Hassan [Jabal Hassan?] has been ‘manifestly successful’, dissuading those ‘Chieftains’ who intended to unite their tribes at Sheik Othman [Ash Shaikh Outhman] from doing so, and leading Sultan Hamed Foutheli [Sulṭān Aḥmad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Faḍlī] to retire to Shugra to protect his territory, leaving the roads open for kafilas [caravans] to reach AdenHaines pointing out the advantages of a small vessel with a long gun being sent to Aden for serviceThe Imam of Sana [Sanaa] reportedly intending to march to Lahidge [Lahij or Lahej] to subjugate it and the surrounding area; Haines’s belief that the Imam may wish to confer with him about the ‘agitated’ state of the tribes inland; his view that the Imam may easily regain Taaes [Taʿizz] and Ebb [Ibb]; and that if this is the Imam’s intention then the coffee producing area will be open to the Aden market, and Haines requesting the opinion of Government on this possibilityThe French Consul at Mussowah [Massawa] having written to Haines regarding a ‘Banian’ merchant named ‘Woobee’ being (in the Consul’s opinion unjustly) imprisoned and ‘ill-treated’ by the Turkish [Ottoman] Governor for a debt of seventy years standing, and Haines writing to the Governor to request kindness to be shown towards a British subject and that no punishment may be inflicted until the justice of the claim has been enquired into in the presence of a commander of a vessel of war, which Haines will send to Mussowah as soon as practicableThe arrival of the Honourable Company’s schooner Constanceat Aden, Haines reporting having despatched the vessel to blockade the port of Shugra, and the arrangements made by him to supply the vessel with water and provisionsHaines requesting sanction from the Government of Bombay for having obtained supplies from Maccalla [Mukalla, also spelled Maculla in this item] for the Commissariat at Aden, costing 279 German CrownsHaines reporting on the supply of provisions for the garrison at Aden, and his expectation that there will not be any scarcityMeasures taken to relieve the wing of HM 94th Regiment at Aden.The majority of the correspondence is between the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, Arthur Malet, and the Political Agent at Aden. The enclosures also include: letters from Malet to the Secretary to the Governor-General of India, Frederick Currie; a letter from Malet to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, Captain Sir Robert Oliver; enclosed letters from Haines to the Secretary to the Secret Committee, and to the officer commanding the Honourable Company’s schooner Queenand Senior Naval Officer at Aden, Lieutenant John Glen Johnstone, Indian Navy; and an extract from the proceedings of the Government of Bombay in the Military Department, consisting of a copy of a letter to Haines from the Secretary to Government in the Military Department, Peter Melvill Melvill.Physical description: 1 item (30 folios)
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 12 of 1847, dated 30 January 1847. The enclosures are dated 1 December 1846-28 January 1847.The correspondents are: Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent at Aden; the Secretary to the Government, Bombay; and the Secretary to the Government of India.The papers cover the following matters:Haines’s requisition of the HC [Honourable Company’s] schooner of war Constanceto enquire into the claim made by the Government of Mussawa [Massawa, also spelled Mussowah in this item] against a Banian, enclosing a copy of his instructions to the Senior Naval Officer Aden to urge the commander of the Constanceto settle the matter to the satisfaction of all parties if possible. Later correspondence confirms the settlement of the disputeThe peaceful state of the country and the well supplied marketsThe agreement of the Abdali [‘Abdalī] and Foutheli [Faḍlī] chiefs to a six month truce, and the salaries given to various other ‘chiefs’The serious illness of Sultan M’Houssain Fudthel of Lahidge [Sultan Muḥsin bin Faḍl al-'Abdalī], his apparent improvement, and his enquiry regarding the prospective payment of his salaryNews that the Imaum of Sanâ [Imam of Sana‘a] has reached [‘Raynat Guszab’?] near Zebeid [Zabid] with a force of several thousand men with the possible intention of seizing Zebeid, Mocha and Hodeida [Al Hudaydah], and the Governor-General’s opinion that there is no reason to interfere in the Imaum’s proceedings so long as they do not threaten British interestsConfirmation that the Constancefound no change in the depth of water around the Zebayr [Zubayr] Islands (subsequent to the recent volcanic eruption there)Progress on the construction of defences at the entrance of Aden harbourThe stalemate between the Sherriff [Sharif] of Mocha and Hodeida’s forces and those of Shiek Alli Homeida [Shaikh ‘Alī Ḥumaydah]Political discord on the Abyssinian [Eritrea] coast and the possible future disruption to trade.Physical description: 1 item (13 folios)