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 121 of 1846, dated 15 October 1846. The enclosures, numbered 3-15 and dated 2 September to 15 October 1846, relate to the construction of defence works at Aden.The matters covered mainly concern:The progress made in the construction of the principal defence works, as reported in a memorandum by the Executive Engineer at Aden, Captain James Kilner, and his assistants, dated 29 September 1846 (enclosed in No. 3)The view of the Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, that it would be more advantageous to employ Arab labourers instead of Indian labourers on the public works at AdenThe question of whether the number of convicts employed on the construction of the fortifications at Aden could be increased, and whether any vessels of the Indian Navy could be made available for the accommodation of these convicts.The enclosures consist of correspondence, the above memorandum, and two minutes of the Government of Bombay.The main correspondents are the following: the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, Arthur Malet; the Secretary, and the Under-Secretary, to the Government of India with the Governor-General; the Military Board, Bombay; the Political Agent at Aden; and the Executive Engineer at Aden.Physical description: The Construction of Defence Works at Aden
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)