Page 224 - Gulf Precis(II)_Neat

202 Part VI- Chap. XLIV.
I have to initruot you to ask Mehomol Ali whether the fact is bo, and you will add that
Her Majesty’s Government hope and trust that he will, upon full consideration, abandon any
intention of establishing himself in the Persian Gulf, because, as you have already declared to
Mm, such a scheme on his part could not be viewed with indifference by the British Govern­
ment.
(II) ACTION TAKEN BY THE COVERNHmOF INDIA TO TIIWART HIS PROJECTS

370. When roports wero received of tho conquest of Nojd by tho sub­
mission of Hnsa and Knlif to tho army
Volume 1839. of tho Pasha of Egypt under the
command of his General Kurshed Pasha and Amir Kalid, and Oman and
a B"mbaj Government lotter to tbo Resident, Bahrein were threatened with invasion
dited 23th February 1839. tho Bombay Government instructed tho
Resident in tho Gulf to exert all his influence to check tho further eucroaoh-
ments of tho Generals of tho Pasha of Egypt on tho Arabian Coast of tho Gulf.
371. Tho Government of India in their letter, dated 13th March 1839,
approved of the tenour of the Bombay
Volume 0 A—1060 of 1839. Government’s letter to the Resident as
being highly judicious.
372. The Resident in the Persian Gulf, in obedience to tho instructions
which he had received from the Government of Bombay, exerted bis influence
to chock the further encroachments of tho Generals of tho Pasha of Egypt on
the Coast of the Gulf and the presence in tho Persian Gulf of the Naval Com-
mandor-in-Chief greatly conduced to this end. The Governor-General recom­
mended that an immediate communication be made to Sir Frederick Maitland
of tho position of affairs in tho South Western Coast of the Gulf, of the
instructions which were given by Lord Palmerston to Her Majesty’s Agent
and Consul at Alexandria, dated the 29th of November last, and of the dissatis­
faction with which Her Majesty’s Ministers could but regard the encroach­
ments made by the Pasha of Egypt contrary to his express assurance in this
quarter.
373. It rested with Her Majesty’s Consul-General in Egypt under snob
instructions as he may receive from England, to make due representations to
the PaBha in regard to the conquests already achieved by tho Egyptian Army.
But if the Egyptian Generals should attempt further encroachments on the
territories of the States on the shores of the Persian Gulf, and if in particular
an invasion of the Island of Bahrein should bo in contemplation, the Admiral
was authorized strongly to use his influence to deter them from such an
attempt, and, in the event of their persisting in their designs, and the Govern­
ment of Bahrein invitiDg, or calling for his assistance, to afford that Govern­
ment every encouragement to resistance and all support short of placing
himself in actual collision with the Egyptian authorities.
874. The Government of India would not, in the absence of specific
instructions from time authorise more decisive measures, felt satisfied that the
expression of the wishes of the British Commander and the exhibition of naval
strength would for the moment have all the effect which could be desired in
regard to the Island of Bahrein. At the date of the advices then received
from the Gulf, instructions could scarcely have been received by the Egyptian
Commander from the Pasha, consequent on the remonstrance which the Consul-
General in Egypt was directed to address to him by Viscount Palmerston’s
despatch of the 29th November.
375* The Governor-General was not disposed at the time to enter into
any new engagement with the Chief of Bahrein, but in the event of such
engagement being tendered, the Admiral was desired so far to encourage his
proposals as to transmit them for the consideration and orders of the Govern­
ment of India. The Government of India desired at the same time to have
all possible information upon the disposition, the strength, and the relative
interests of contending parties in this quarter, and particularly on the means of
resistance which the Uttubi Chief can command.
378. In forwarding a copy of the above instructions to the Resident, the
Bombay Government in their letter No. QV f dated 1st April 1839, direoted