IOR/L/PS/5/446, ff 331-360

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 123 of 1846, dated 15 October 1846. The enclosures are numbered 3-20.

Enclosure Nos. 3-16 and 18 are dated 21 September to 10 October 1846, and consist of correspondence, and minutes and resolutions of the Government of Bombay, relating to affairs at Aden and within its vicinity, mostly in relation to a recent attempted attack on Aden by a body of ‘Arabs’ under ‘the fanatic’ Syed Ismael [Sayyid Ismā‘īl, also spelled Sayud Ismail in this item].

The enclosures cover matters including:

• The Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, reporting on when the roads into Aden have been ‘unmolested’ and supplies have entered Aden market, and when this has been prevented, such as: on 19 September 1846, when he states a party of the Foutheli [al-Faḍlī] tribe, under the direction of their ‘Chief’, Ahmed [Sulṭān Aḥmad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Faḍlī], and Sayud Ismail, attacked and plundered the kafila [caravan] from Lahidge [Lahij or Lahej] and the adjacent villages, with the roads being closed from 19 to 24 September, and on 28 September when there was another attack on a kafila by fifteen mounted men of the Foutheli tribe
• Haines reporting that Sayud Ismail still remains a guest of the Foutheli Chief; Haines’s prediction that the ‘almost daily murders’ on the roads will cause ‘ill feeling and a blood feud between tribes’; and his stated doubts that Sayud Ismail will receive reinforcements from northwards
• An increase in scurvy among the soldiers of the 47th Madras [Chennai] Native Infantry at Aden, as well as among the labourers and convicts, reported by Haines
• The Government of Bombay instructing Haines to report on whether he can suggest any means by which the Foutheli Chief could ‘without any inordinate risk, be made to feel the power of the British Government’ (folio 340r), as in their view it is mainly due to his influence that that the peace of Aden continues to be disturbed
• The Adjutant General of the Army, Lieutenant-Colonel C Hagart, forwarding a letter from the officer commanding the troops at Aden, Lieutenant-Colonel H R Milner, reporting: that on 28 September a force of ‘Arabs’ numbering from 200 to 250 were in front of the Turkish Wall advancing, it was assumed, for the purpose of attacking Aden, however when they came within 400 yards of the Right Field Work the guns of the Fort opened fire, resulting in several of the Arabs being killed and wounded; that he was subsequently informed by the Political Agent at Aden that the force had no intention of attacking Aden; Milner’s opinion that the force which had originally gathered for attacking Aden has almost entirely disappeared from the neighbourhood and there is no fear of Aden being attacked; and that supplies from the interior continue to come into Aden very irregularly and high prices are demanded for them
• The Superintendent of the Indian Navy, Sir Robert Oliver, stating in response to the Government of Bombay’s enquiry about whether a small iron steam vessel could be appropriated for service at Aden, that the only vessel available for this purpose is the Medusa, but that vessel is undergoing serious repairs and he does not expect it to be ready for two months or longer, and that there would also be great difficulty in this vessel returning from Aden, due to its limited capacity for storing coal, its ‘imperfect’ sailing qualities, and it being unsafe for the weather conditions of South West Monsoon
• The Government of India forwarding to the Government of Bombay a copy of a memorandum by the Governor-General, Viscount Hardinge, containing his remarks and instructions regarding the state of affairs at Aden and within its vicinity
• The Government of Bombay sending the Political Agent at Aden extracts of the Governor-General’s memorandum containing remarks on the caution which should be observed whenever the state of affairs of Aden may induce the Government of Bombay to authorise an advance into the interior in order to dislodge an ‘enemy’ who may have cut off supplies to Aden, and requesting him to state whether he has adopted any measures to make sure that every head of a family in the town has a store of provisions, and if not, to state what measures he proposes to ensure this
• The Government of Bombay informing the Government of India, in response to the Governor-General’s memorandum, that: as the force which gathered before Aden under Syud Ismail had dispersed, and the relief of the troops at Aden has already been ordered as a matter of routine, the Governor-in-Council has resolved not to act on the portions of the Governor-General’s memorandum which sanction measures contingent on different circumstances, but that the Government of Bombay may possibly be induced to act on the discretionary authority granted by the Governor-General, dependent on the information received in the next mail from Aden; and that the Government of Bombay has requested full information from the Home authorities on arrangements made at Gibraltar which may be applicable to the situation at Aden
• The Government of Bombay resolving that instructions should be issued for carrying into effect the Governor-General’s orders for the periodical issue of salted meat to the European troops at Aden.

The main correspondents are the following: the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, Arthur Malet; the Political Agent at Aden; the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General, Frederick Currie; the Adjutant General of the Army; the officer commanding the troops at Aden; and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy.

Enclosure No. 17, stated in the abstract to contents to be a supplement to the Bombay Government Gazette of 6 October 1846, publishing for general information extracts of a letter from the officer commanding the troops at Aden, is not included in this item.

Enclosure Nos. 19 and 20, listed in the abstract of contents respectively as copies of the Bombay Times summary of intelligence and the Bombay Overland Courier of 15 October 1846, are recorded as missing in a note dated 29 October 1906.