Page 175 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

ficd reprobation from the Court of Directors’, who censured not
only Thompson, but the conduct of the second expedition. They
disapproved of the insistence on the surrender of arms, the des­
truction of water channels and date groves, and the bringing of
a large number of prisoners to Bombay. Many of the prisoners
died from smallpox and cholera, the remainder were sent back to
their home. Wcllsted adds a footnote to his description of the
event in which he says: *1 learn with pleasure that, notwithstanding
the severe strictures of the Court of Directors for his conduct of
this expedition, the military career in India of Sir Lionel Smith
(a son of the celebrated Charlotte Smith) and that a brilliant one,
was marked by repeated acts of benevolence and humanity to the
natives, and that he piqued himself, with justice, on those traits.’
General Sir Lionel Smith later had a distinguished career in the
West Indies. Thompson, too, did not suffer permanently for the
part he played in the disastrous Abu Ali affair. He rose to the
rank of General; when he retired, he became a ‘Radical propa­
gandist’, a Benthamite, the editor of the Westminster Review, and
was Liberal M.P. for Hull. Both Lionel Smith and Thompson
in their later years did much towards the abolition of slavery.
At the time of writing, the Abu Ali tribe arc still very inde­
pendent, and continue to be Wahabis. They have a great repu­
tation and are feared by their neighbours. They arc on good
terms with the Sultan. Once in the past, when the Sultan was
having trouble with the people of Muscat, the Abu Ali got into
their boats, and came to his aid. On their arrival, the Muscatis
immediately submitted to the Sultan.

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