IOR/L/PS/9/76/46

Two letters from Harford Jones, Resident in Baghdad, to Jonathan Duncan, President and Governor in Council of Bombay [Mumbai], sent from Bagdad [Baghdad] and dated 29 November 1798 and 2 December 1798.

Jones forwards two letters with information from French-occupied Egypt:

1. A translation of a letter from Taleb Aga [Āghā], a resident of Acca [Acre], to Saleh Kiumchee [?], a Damascus merchant. The letter forwards reports regarding the French campaign in Egypt, including:

• Reports that English ships off Alexandria have intercepted French dispatches to the Directory, describing illness among the French troops in Egypt and attacks by ‘Arabs’ [tribes] and asking for support
• Reports that the inhabitants of Cairo have risen up against the French occupation forces, killed a large number including General Napoleon Bonaparte, and driven them out of the city where the Kia [deputy] of Beikir Pashaw [Abū Bakr Pāshā or Ebubekir Paşa, Ottoman Governor of Egypt] has now taken control of the castle [Citadel].
• The arrival of Turkish reinforcements in Acca from Constantinople [Istanbul].

2. A translation of a letter from the Diwan Effendisi (Secretary) of the Pashaw [Sulaymān Pāshā Āl Kabīr, Governor of Baghdad] to Jones, received 2 December 1798. The letter forwards reports received from Egypt via Damascus that, following the imposition of a poll tax, the inhabitants of Cairo have risen up against the French occupation forces, killed a large number including General Bonaparte, and driven them out of the city, where the Kia of Bekir Pashaw has taken control.