IOR/L/PS/5/398, ff 505-679

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 86 of 1841, dated 29 October 1841. The enclosures are dated 18 April 1839-25 October 1841.

The principal correspondents are: Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent, Aden; the Officiating Chief Secretary to the Government, Bombay; and the Secretary to the Government of India. Also included are numerous enclosures and minutes of the Governor and President in Council, Bombay, subscribed to by the Board.

The papers notably cover and include the following:

• A description by Haines of the disruption to kafilas [camel caravans, also spelled kafilahs in this item] of supplies entering Aden ‘in consequence of the continued revengeful, and insulting conduct of the Fouthelee [Faḍlī] and Abdalee ['Abdalī] Tribes’ (f 521), and the Government of Bombay’s agreement to his request for permission to stop supplies by sea entering the ports of any ‘chief’ who is ‘decidedly hostile’ to the British Government, provided there is the naval means to enforce a blockade
• A report of the expulsion from Aden of a ‘suspicious’ caravan, under Sheik Mahomed Hyder [Shaikh Muḥammad Ḥaydar] of the Abdalee tribe, and the thwarting of a surprise attack by ‘a body of Arabs’ (f 528) on the ‘outwork’ at the Turkish Wall, including copy of an account of the incident by the officer in charge of the Turkish Wall Out Post (ff 525-533)
• Papers relating to measures ordered by Haines subsequent to his receipt of permission from the Government of Bombay to act on the offensive against tribes accused of attacking and disrupting the kafilahs bound for Aden. Included are: Haines’s account of the surprise British attack involving the demolition of the town of Newbut Maaidee [Nawbat Mahdi, also spelled Maidee and Mahdee in this item] purportedly the rendezvous point of the Fouthelee ‘chiefs’ planning attacks on Aden, and the destruction of the guard post allegedly erected at Sheik Othman [Ash Shaykh ‘Uthmān, also spelled Shaick in this item] to ‘molest’ the kafilahs bound for Aden (ff 538-542); and copies of Haines’s correspondence with Lieutenant-Colonel William Croker Commanding the Aden force, with related accounts of officers present during the operations (ff 543-551)
• Agreement of the Governor-General of India with the Governor in Council, Bombay, to increase the police establishment at Aden, and the arrangements to be made by the Superintendent of Police and the Military Board, Bombay, and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy to despatch ten volunteers from the Bombay Police, and equip them with swords and belts (ff 561-570)
• Instructions issued in October 1841 by the Government of Bombay for sending ‘as an experiment’, twenty or thirty Hindoo [Hindu] convicts to Aden to work on the roads, fortifications and public buildings, including guidance regarding clothing and diet for convicts (ff 616-618). The instructions and tables of guidance are preceded by: copies of correspondence, dated April-November 1839 and July-August 1840, between the Government of Bombay, the Government of India, the Acting Advocate-General, Bombay, and the Superintendent of Police, Bombay, regarding the legality of sending to Aden fifty convicts to be employed on the construction of the public roads, tanks, etc., in connection with a request by Haines (ff 572-605); an analysis by the Acting Advocate-General of the law in relation to transportation sentences (ff 579-588); a memorandum by the Political Secretary, Bombay, summarizing relevant correspondence and decisions up to October 1841; and a letter from the Advocate-General, Bombay, confirming that convicts sent to Aden could afterwards be legally sent to another (British) settlement
• A report of a visit to Mussawah [Massawa] by Lieutenant Willmott Christopher, commanding the HC [Honourable Company’s] schooner Constance, forwarded to Haines by the Senior Naval Officer at Aden, (ff 623-629), covering affairs in the vicinity including French activities and influence
• The report by Mr J Hatchatoor, the British Agent at Tedjoura [Tadjoura], of the murder of three of his servants and the hostility of the ‘chief’ of that place (ff 636-638), and Haines’s despatch of the Euphrates to assist in finding the perpetrators and to convey Hatchatoor and his staff to Aden
• Papers and correspondence relating to the misdirection to Ceylon [Sri Lanka] of a packet (mail) from Haines, on the steamer Seaforth, including instructions to the Political Agent that future despatches intended for the Government of Bombay should be sent separately from those intended for distribution by the General Post Office at Bombay, and the Government of Bombay’s recommendation that the post office clerk responsible be fined one month’s salary (ff 648-657)
• Memorandum by the Officiating Chief Secretary, Bombay, regarding the packets from Calcutta [Kolkata], intended for England by the October mail steamer Cleopatra, which reached the Bombay Presidency a day after the steamer’s departure for Suez (ff 660-665)
• Memorandum by the Governor-General of India to the Secret Committee (ff 668-672) which: describes ‘the various insults and injuries sustained by the British Government, its servants and subjects at the hands of the present Shariff [Sharīf] of Mocha’; explains the reasons why no action has been taken up until now, including the lack of naval means, failure of the posited overthrow of the Governor of Mocha by the Imam of Senna, and political difficulties in requesting the removal of an official who is endorsed by the government (Ottoman Porte) of a British ally; and proposes that Captain Grey commanding HMS Endymion visit Mocha to inform the Shariff of how seriously his proceedings are viewed by the Government of India and to attempt to obtain redress without resorting to ‘actual hostility’.