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Part VI—Chop. XLIV. 201

CHAPTER XLIV.

EGYPTIAN CONQUEST OF NEJD AND KALIF AND IIASA
COASTS AND THEIR INTRIGUES IN THE PERSIAN
GULF.-—THE BRITISH POLICY AND OPERATIONS, 1838-
1813.
(1) MEIIEMET AM’S AMBITIOUS PROJECTS AND BRITISH POMCY.
360- Mohemet Ali, the Viceroy of Egypt, under the Porte, was at this
tim« building up for himself an independent empire on the ruins of the appa­
rently doomed Ottoman Empire, and he found iu his energetic aud clever son,
Ibrahim Pasha, an able lieutenant in carrying out the object of his ambition.
Created Pasha of the island of Crete by the Porio, his unsatisfied ambition led
him to wrest Syria under his control in 1832. The Ottoman Empire was saved
from wreck under the invading forces of Mohemet, by the quick intervention
of Russia, in which England and France joined later on after at first keeping
aloof. A temporary reconciliation was p itched up in 1833, as a result of which
Mehemet Ali was couGrmod in his Government of Egypt to which was added
practically the whole of Syria.
367. The restless ambition of Mehomet Ali was now turned to the con­
quest of the Wahabi Kingdom in Arabia. He set free Khalid, a cousin of
Amir Feysal, who had been under surveillance at Cairo and despatched a force
under the command of Kurshed Pasha with the apparent object of deposing
Eeysal and setting up Khalid in his place as Amir of the Wahabis. Nejd was
easily overrun in 3837, and Hasa and Kalif were conquered in 1838. Feysal
wa9 seized and sent a prisoner to Egypt in December 1838. His successor
Khalid, called upon the Uttubis to pay the tribute whioh had formerly been
exacted by Amir Turki. The Egyptian general now threw oil his disguise
as the auxiliary of Khalid, openly declared Nejd as a possession of his master
and avowed his ambition to improve and extend his conquests.
368. Mehemet was not only satisfied with his conquests in Arabia. He
aimed at converting provinces under his Government into an hereditary
monarchy for his family. He began to give open indications of his denial
of the Porte’s sovereignty’in his provinces, and in 1838 we find the Porte’s and
Mehemet’s armies and fleets coming into collision, resulting in disastrous defeat
of the former. Great Britain was now determined to intervene without Porte
allowing Russia to be first on the field as in 1833 for its own benefit and to the
humiliation of Turkey. The polioy of the British Government under the
ministry of Lord Palmerston was to reduce Mehemet Ali to a proper subordi­
nation as a vassal of the Porte, and check the progress of Egyptian Generals in
Arabia and elsewhere.
369. With reference to the Egyptian progress towards the Persian Gulf,
the following despatch of Lord Palmers­
Volume 01-1060 of 1839.
ton to Colonel Cambell, the British
Consul-General at Cairo (dated 29th November 1838), indicates the attitude
of the British Government:—
You stated in your despatch No. 5 of this year, that Mehemet Ali in reply to a comma*
nicatioo which by my despatch No. 25 of the 8th December, you had been directed to make to
him, had assured you that he had not the least idea of extending his authority towards the
Persian Gulf,
You also stated in your despatch No. 54 of this year, that the Pacha's forceg had been
entirely successful in Arabia, and particularly in the Nodjit country and the Hedjas, and that
the Asser tribe of Arabs had entirely submitted to the Pacha's forces under Aohmet Pacha,
and you added that you considered these successes to have afforded a very great relief to
Mehemet Ali, as Arabia will in consequmce no longer draw Egypt of men, money and pro­
visions.
Advices, however, which Her Majesty's Government have recently receivod from Bagdad
represent the Egyptian forces as being about to cross the Peninsula of Arabia to Lahsa and
Kalif with the ultimate purpose of taking possession of the Island of Bahrein in the Persian
Gulf.