IOR/L/PS/5/376, ff 606-659

This item consists of a despatch to the Secret Committee, 31 July 1839, from John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government, Bombay [Mumbai]. The despatch itself (not included) is numbered 1 and is followed by an abstract of contents, numbered 2. The abstract of contents is followed by despatches, numbered 3-24, which are chiefly from John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government, Bombay [Mumbai], to the Secretary with the Governor-General of India, (with some responses from the latter), and from Willoughby to Captain Samuel Hennell, Political Resident, Persian Gulf. Other despatches comprise minutes of the Governors in Council, Bombay, and single despatches to the Bombay Government from: Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Maitland, Naval Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies; Lieutenant-Colonel Stratford Powell, Adjutant-General of the Army; and (the final despatch) Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Campbell, HM Consul-General in Egypt, based in Alexandria.

The main subjects covered are:

• Observations, approbation and instructions by the Government of Bombay and Government of India relating to the actions that Hennell and the Assistant Resident, Lieutenant Thomas Edmunds, have recently undertaken in the Persian Gulf (as described in IOR/L/PS/5/376, ff 279-409) with regard to halting the perceived encroachments of Egypt in the Persian Gulf, in particular efforts to effect the expulsion from Shargah [Sharjah] of Syed bin Mootlook [Sa‘d bin Mutlaq al-Muṭayrī], the self-professed agent of Korshid Pasha [Khūrshid Pāshā, also spelled Khorshid, Kurshid, and Kourschid Pacha in this item], Commanding the Egyptian Forces in Nedgd [Najd, also known as Nejd], and encouragement of the Chief of Bahrein [Bahrain] to break his treaty agreement with Kurshid Pasha
• The removal of the Residency from Bushire [Bushehr] to the island of Karrack [Kharg, also known as Khark, also spelled Kharrack in this item] following a dispute with Mirza Assad, Governor of Bushire, including: approbation of the actions of Rear-Admiral Maitland, on the Wellesley; Hennell’s suspension of communications with the Government of Fars; the honouring, by the Shah of Persia [Iran] of Mirza Assad for his recent actions and consequent British suspicions concerning the Shah's professed desire for the restoration of friendly relations with Britain
• The removal of Sheik Nassir [Shaikh Nāṣir Āl Mazkūr II, a former Governor of Bushire] from Bushire, notably concern that Lieutenant-Colonel James Shirreff [also spelled Sheriff in this item], Commanding the Field Force at Kharrack, acted beyond his powers; and the Governor-General’s recommendation that Hennell arrange compensation for Sheik Nassir, maintain his residency on Karrack in good condition and inform him of the possibility of his return to the island in future
• Intelligence relating to the condition and movements of the Persian Army
• The removal to India of the British military detachment recently serving in Persia under Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Shee, and whether the Government of Bombay should have first consulted Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Chargé d’Affaires in Persia
• The vesting in Shirreff of powers of courts martial and capital punishment, authorizing the execution of death sentences in certain circumstances, on condition of consultation with the Political Resident
• The communication, obtained by HM Consul-General in Alexandria, from Mehemet Ali [Muḥammad ‘Alī Pāshā al-Mas‘ūd bin Āghā, Governor of Egypt] to Kourschid Pasha to suspend military interference in the island of Bahrein, including a copy in [Ottoman] Arabic and translation (into French) of the order (ff 653-655).