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.
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of Enclosures to a Despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 30 of 1841, dated 27 April 1841. The enclosures are dated 25 February to 28 April 1841, and relate to a British Mission to the King of Shoa [Shewa].The enclosures mostly consist of copies of letters sent and received by the Government of Bombay. The most frequent correspondent is Captain William Cornwallis Harris, Head of the British Mission to Shoa. The enclosures also include: letters to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, the General Pay Master, the Military Board, and the Secretary to the Government of India; letters from the Political Agent at Aden; and memoranda by the Political Secretary to the Government of Bombay.The enclosures include correspondence regarding: Lieutenant Sydney Lloyd Horton offering his services to accompany the Mission, the acceptance of the offer of his services by the Government of Bombay, and his pay and allowances on the Mission; the proposal of Johannes Rudolf Roth and Johann Martin Bernatz, two German Professors, to accompany the Mission (Roth as a naturalist, and Bernatz as a draftsman and artist), and their claim for compensation from the Government of India for the cost of the articles and instruments they brought out with them for the Mission; the transport of packages belonging to the Mission on board the ship
Auckland, to be landed at Aden; the accommodation of Captain Harris and others proceeding with him on special duty to Aden on board the
Auckland.The enclosures also include: lists of presents for the King of Shoa, and a copy of a bill for these presents; and copies of two sketch maps of Shoa from the missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf.Physical description: There is an abstract of contents of the despatch, numbered 1-47, on folios 641-649. These numbers are repeated for reference on the last verso of each enclosure.
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 36 of 1850, dated 25 June 1850. Enclosures Nos. 3-15, dated 25 May to 24 June 1850, consist of correspondence, and minutes of the Government of Bombay.The enclosures cover matters including:The Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Betteworth Haines, reporting that ‘some mischievous person’, he believes from Aden, had caused a report to be spread that three or four British steam ships had brought troops and guns to the area, and that the British intended to march inland, which had caused a sudden panic. However, Haines states that he had written a friendly letter to Sultan Ali M’Houssain [‘Alī I bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī] of Lahidge [Lahej or Lahij] ridiculing the idea of ‘such nonsense’, and that this letter had instantly dissipated all fearHaines reporting that the Turkish [Ottoman] force for the capture of Maculla and Shahahr [Mukalla and Ash Shihr] are at Mocha, and that the ‘Arabs’ of Maculla and Shahahr have united, and the Arab main force is at Broom [Bandar Burum] ready to receive and attack them. Haines states his belief that if the ‘Turks’ persevere in this attack, it will end in the destruction and capture of the Turkish fleet and the death or capture of their military forceAn unarmed boat belonging to the Honourable Company’s steam frigate
Aucklandbeing fired on ‘without the slightest provocation’, Haines writes, by ‘an Arab of the Arabia tribe’ named Baghi bin Abdulla [Bāqī(?) bin ‘Abdullāh], on 29 May 1850, resulting in one seaman being killed and one being wounded. Haines asserts that the demolition of the town of Bir Ahmed [Bi’r Aḥmad] would be a ‘just act of retribution’ for the murder, but as its ‘Chief’ is a vassal of the Abdali Sultan [of Lahej], Haines deemed the correct course of action to be to leave the punishment in the hands of the Abdali SultanHaines reporting that he had made the following demands of the Sultan of Lahidge: that Baghi bin Abdulla should be delivered into his custody until Government should decide on his punishment; and that Sheik Hydra bin Medhi [Shaikh Ḥaydarah bin Mahdī] of Bir Ahmed should be replaced by another Chief subordinate to the Abdali Sultan of Lahidge, since Sheik Hydra bin Medhi has shown a ‘turbulent and inimical spirit’ towards the British, and Haines asserts he had approved of Baghi bin Abdulla’s conduct and connived at his escape to the Subeihi [Subayhi] countryThe delivery of a letter from Viscount Palmerston, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and a box containing 300 Sovereigns, to the King of Shoa [Shewa].The correspondence is between the following: the Government of Bombay; Haines; the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General, Sir Henry Miers Elliot; HM Consul General of Egypt, Charles Augustus Murray; Lord Palmerston; Captain J P Sanders, Senior Naval Officer at Aden; and Commander John Stephens, commanding the
Auckland.Enclosure Nos. 16-17, listed in the abstract of contents as copies of the
Bombay Overland Timesand the
Bombay Overland Telegraph and Courierdated 25 June 1850, are recorded as missing in a note dated 31 October 1906.Physical description: 1 item (37 folios)