IOR/L/PS/5/464, ff 216-252

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 fear
• Haines 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 force
• An unarmed boat belonging to the Honourable Company’s steam frigate Auckland being 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 Sultan
• Haines 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] country
• The 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 John Parke 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 Times and the Bombay Overland Telegraph and Courier dated 25 June 1850, are recorded as missing in a note dated 31 October 1906.