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HISTORY OF THE IXDTAX XA^T. 307 ;

the Meer. During the da}- he was put into close confinement,
with a guard over him, and, by an express order from the Imaum.
his property was seized and confiscated for having transmitted
false accounts of the real state of alBPairs. In the evening,
Futteh Ullah returned Captain Brace's visit on board the
' Ernaad.'
Saturday, the (ith of January, 1821, having been fixed for
Haji Futteh's affording public atonement for the wrongs he
had committed, on that day, ^leer Futteh Ullah, accompanied
by his Council, a number of other functionaries and the principal
merchants, brought the offender to Captain Bruce's house,
where were assembled Captain Lumley, the commanders of the
Company's cruisers, and a large party of officers. The Meer,
leading Haji Futteh by the hand, formally announced to Captain
Bruce that he had brought him. by the Imaum's order, to be
delivered up for punishment, in any way he thought proper
that His Highness deeply regretted what had occurred, which
had been entirely without his authority, and that he trusted,
therefore, that this public acknowledgment would be considered
sufficient atonement. Pie then delivered Haji Futteh into
Ca})tain Bruce's hands, when that officer replied that sufficient
reparation had been offered, and Haji Futteh was freely forgiven,
an act of generosity which deeply affected the late Dowlah,
who, for some time, in vain attempted to give utterance to his
gratitude. On the following day, Captain Bruce and the Naval
commanders, accompanied by a high official on the part of iiw
Dowlah, rode through the Shaduli gate, hitherto undesecrated
l)y the foot of an unbeliever, after which the l)owlah issued a
proclamation, which was repeated for three successive days,
annoimcing that no one was to presume to ofter molestation or
insult to any person belonging to the English, in the streets or
the different gates of the town, which were to be for their free
use, the same as to themselves, and that any one transgressing
this proclamation woukl be severely punished.
On the 14th, Meer Futteh Ullah delivered to Captain Bruc
a firman, which had been issued by the Imaum, reducing the
duties to 2rl- percent.; and, in the course of the following day,
copies of the treaty, which had been sent to Sanaa, were returned,
duly signed and sealed by the Imaum and the members of his
Council.* All the demands of the Bombay Government were
now amply fulfilled, and the British factory was jilaced on that
honourable footing which it should ever have occupied.
Lieutenant Kobson,t commanding the Hon. ( '()m|>any's cruiser
'Antelope,' was left in charge of affairs as British Resident,
* Bombay Book of Treaties, p. ()72.
t This gallant oflicer, who had gone throtigh great personal fatigue, ("uilered 80
much in healtli, that he expired at Moclia on the lath of Ancnst, 1821, two days
before the arrival of his late ship tlic 'Antelope,' \\ith the new British Kesident,
Captain Hutchinsou.
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