IOR/L/PS/5/385, ff 124-199

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 37 of 1840. The enclosures are dated 2 March 1839 to 20 June 1840.

The enclosures mainly consist of correspondence, mostly relating to Persian Gulf affairs. They concern matters including:

• The resources of Bahrein [Bahrain] and the opinion of the Resident in the Persian Gulf, Captain Samuel Hennell, on its suitability for occupation by a British force
• The possibility of communicating with the Political Agent at Herat, Major Elliot D’Arcy Todd, via Bunderabbas [Bandar Abbas] rather than the more circuitous route of India and the Red Sea
• A meeting at Muscat between the Imam [Imām] of Muscat and an envoy of Khorschid Pasha [Khūrshīd Pāshā], Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Forces in Najd
• The ‘encroachments’ and ‘intrigues’ of Mahomed Ali Pasha [Muḥammad ‘Alī Pāshā al-Mas‘ūd bin Āghā], Governor of Egypt, in Arabia
• Mahomed Ali Pasha withdrawing his army from Nedgd [Najd]
• A meeting between Mahomed Ali Pasha and HM Consul General in Alexandria, George Lloyd Hodges, during which: Mahomed Ali admitted that he had offered a yearly pension to the Imaum of Sannaa [Imām of Yemen at Sanaa] in return for the cession of the Imaum’s territory, and that he had threatened to compel the cession by force, but that his intercourse with the Imaum had now ceased; Mahomed Ali denied intriguing against the Imaum of Muscat and claimed that he had always been on terms of the greatest friendship with the Imam of Muscat; and Hodges informed Mahomed Ali that the British Government would tolerate no interference or attempt at aggression with its allies and would grant those rulers aid if required
• Hennell reporting his success in resolving the ‘quarrel’ between the Joasmee ‘Chief’, Shaik Sultan bin Sugger [Shaikh Sulṭān I bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī, Ruler of Sharjah and Ra’s al-Khaymah], and Abdollah bin Rashid [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Rāshid al-Mu‘allā] of Amulgavine [Umm al-Qaywayn], resulting in the ratification of a formal treaty of alliance and friendship between them
• Shaik Khuleefa bin Shakboot [Shaikh Khalīfah bin Shakhbūṭ Āl Nahyān] of Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi] expressing his ‘entire devotion’ to the British Government during a meeting with Hennell, and agreeing to be party to the renewal of the Maritime Truce for twelve months, previously sealed by the ‘Chiefs’ of Rasel Khymah [Ra’s al-Khaymah] and Amulgavine
• Hennell informing the Government of Bombay that the attachés to the Ambassador of France at the Court of Persia [Iran] had arrived at Karrack [Kharg Island, also spelled Karrak in this item], and it does not appear that there is any intention of installing a French consul at Bushire [Bushehr]
• The latest intelligence regarding the state of affairs in Shiraz and Isfahan from the News Writer at Shiraz
• The authorities at Bushire preventing supplies being transported from Bushire to Karrak
• The Superintendent of the Indian Navy, Captain Robert Oliver, issuing instructions to Commodore George Barnes Brucks, commanding the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf, to despatch cruisers to the Arabian Coast of the Persian Gulf more frequently
• The Government of Bombay informing Oliver that no movements of the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf should be made except under the orders, or with the concurrence, of the Resident in the Persian Gulf
• Oliver informing the Government of Bombay that Hennell’s complaint that he is not receiving the same salutes from the Honourable Company’s vessels of war stationed in the Gulf as previous incumbents of his office is based on a misapprehension by Hennell of the details of the regulations of the service
• The Government of India requesting the Governor in Council of Bombay to consider whether it will be necessary to retain Captain Atkins Hamerton, presently employed on political duty at Muscat, as a separate agent once the proposed British Consul at Muscat arrives, and whether the services currently performed by Hamerton can be dispensed with
• The Government of India instructing the Government of Bombay that: every effort is to be made to cultivate the alliance with the Imam of Muscat under the treaty recently concluded with him; that the Government of India consider themselves relieved from all regard to the interests of the ‘Chief’ of Bahrein; that the ‘Maritime Chieftains’ of Arabia should be encouraged in their opposition to the ‘encroachments’ of Mahomed Ali; and that the Governor-General leaves the decision of whether to issue a proclamation prohibiting the export of military stores from India to ports in the Gulf to the judgement of the Governor of Bombay
• The Government of Bombay requesting Hennell to report whether any mode occurs to him by which the transfer of Bahrein to the authority of the Imam of Muscat can be facilitated
• Hamerton reporting that the Imam of Muscat has no objection to allowing his armed fleet to co-operate with British war vessels in the Persian Gulf if required to do so at any time, but that in Hamerton’s view, not much can be expected from Imaum’s fleet in its current state.

The main correspondent is Hennell. Other correspondents include: the Government of Bombay; Oliver; the Imaum of Muscat [Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Sulṭān Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; the Native Agent at Muscat; Mahomed Ali Pasha; the Shaik [Shaikh] of the Naeem [al-Na‘īm], Alli ben Hamood Naimi [‘Alī bin Ḥammūd al-Nu‘aymī, also spelled Ally bin Humood in this item]; the Senior Naval Officer, Karrak, Anthony H Nott; the Agent at Bahrein, Mirza Mahomed Alli [Mīrzā Muḥammad ‘Alī]; the News Writer at Shiraz, Mirza Mahomed Reza [Mīrzā Muḥammad Rizā]; Brucks; the Government of India; and Hodges.