IOR/F/4/2238/112341

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence cited in, or enclosed with, a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, 30 September 1847. A copy of this Political Letter can be found at IOR/F/4/2238/112322, alongside details of further enclosures. The item is the twentieth in a series of fifty-nine items on events in the Persian Gulf.

The item contains a letter from Major Samuel Hennell, Resident in the Persian Gulf, to the Government of Bombay, dated 8 June 1847. Hennell reports intelligence that a force under command of Bin Aoon the Shureef of Mecca [Muḥammad bin ‘Abd al-Mu‘īn bin ‘Awn, Sharīf of Mecca] and Ameer Khaled ben Saood [Amīr Khālid bin Sa‘ūd] has advanced into Nedjd [Najd] and communicated to Ameer Fysul the Wahabee Chief [Amīr Fayṣal bin Turkī bin ‘Abdullāh Āl Sa‘ūd, leader of the Wahhābī] that if he wishes to continue governing Nedjd he must pay an annual tribute to the Porte [Government of the Ottoman Empire]. Hennell further reports that Ameer Fysul replied he was authorised to govern the region by Mahomed Ally Pasha [Muḥammad ‘Alī Pāshā] and would resist any further advances until he had heard from his superior. Hennell states that the ‘general impression’ is that Ameer Fysul would not be able to successfully resist the invading force.

The title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political Department’, ‘Draft No. 345/48’, ‘Collection No. 2 of No. 118, Vol: 20.’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.