Page 124 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

102 Part V—Chap. XXVI.

CHAPTER XXVI.

(1) FAILURE OF CAPTAIN SADLEIRS MISSION.

(2) SAILING OF THE EXPEDITION.

(3) CAPTURE OF RAS-UL-KIIIMA AND OTHER PLACES ON
THE PIRATE COAST.

(4) DESIGNS OF MASKAT AND PERSIA ON BAHREIN, 1810.

(5) OCCUPATION OF RAS-UL-KHIMA.
(0) PACIFICATION OF THE PIRATE COAST.

(I) FAILURE OF CAPTAIN SADLEIR’S MISSION,
208. Captain Sadleir had to travel all the way across Arabia towards
l)iary of Journey across Arabia, etc., by Medina to find Ibrahim P&sh& J and
Captain Sadleir. when be mot the Egyptian Commander,
after a short complimentary conversation, His Excellency directed the
attendants to withdraw and read the despatches which Captain Sadleir had the
honour to present. During the confidential communication which ensued,
Ibrahim Pasha informed him that th\o policy of the expedition had been
entrusted to his father’s guidance by the Ottoman Court. His instructions
had limited his operations to Deriab, but that he was not aware of the ultimate
views which had actuated that court to set on foot the expedition. On the
fall of Deriah he awaited further instructions, which arrived from Constanti­
nople, directing the total destruction of Deriah and eventually the evacuation
of the whole country, the revenues of which were reported insufficient to
defray the expenses of the troops required for its protection during his
stay at Deriah. Awaiting these orders he had pushed a post as far as Hasa
and Katif, to procure supplies, his army being in the greatest distress, and
that at that period a friendly intercourse with the British would have
proved of the first importance.
209. Ibrahim Pasha expressed his regret at the altered state of affairs, which
would preclude the possibility of his meeting the wishes of the Governor-
General, in whose views he would have been most happy to have coincided at
an earlier period, had he been acquainted with the intentions of the British
authorities; he however considered the communication to be of such import­
ance as to require a reference to His Highness Mahomed Ali Pasha,
without whose instructions he was averse to form a reply to the des­
patches. Whatever were the instructions Ibrahim Pasha received, Captain
Sadleir was treated with much discourtesy later on and had to return to Maskat
by way of Mocha without having effected any of the objects of his mission.
• Print#; in 1866 at the Education Society’s His Diary of* a journey across Arabia
Press, By cull a. has, however, been a gain to the geogra­
phical knowledge of Central Arabia, the value of which more than compen­
sates for the failure of the expedition.
209A. It is interesting to contract the British line of policy pursued in
1819 with that adopted in 1838-184)1, when they exerted their utmost to check
the progress of the Viceroy of Egypt towards the Persian Gulf (vide paragraphs
360 et seq. hereafter),