'Memorandum on the Turkish claim to sovereignty over the eastern shores of the Red Sea and the whole of Arabia; and on the Egyptian claim to the whole of the western shore of the same sea, including the African coast from Suez to Cape Guardafui.' [‎14v] (28/70)

24
very bad bargain if it gave up the Egyptian tribute
in order to enable Mehemet Ali to conquer and
retain, as he assuredly would do, the Provinces of
Arabia. ^
It was, however, generallv believed that such an ^ os ' 2 and 7 > of January 1
T • , ' , ^ . and 17, 1847.
expedition as the bultan proposed would be annihi
lated, and it was therefore abandoned.
In May 1848, it having been reported that the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , June 27, 1848.
Yemen had submitted to the Porte, and that Emir
Houssain had been raised to the rank of Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. ,
the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. of the East India Company
at Aden addressed a letter to the Government of
Bombay in which he gave the following particulars
respecting Sheriff Houssain:—
" In 1836 Sheriff Houssain was a Kalil, or Secre
tary to Mahomed Ameen Bey, then Governor of
Mocha under Mehemet Ali Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. . On the evacu
ation of the Yemen by the Egyptian troops, in
accordance, I believe, with the Treaty of the five
Powers of Europe, attempts were made by Mehemet
Ali's Government to dispose of the seaport towns to
the highest bidder. The Imaum of Senna was too
poor to come forward, and the struggle rested
between Ali Homeida, a powerful Chief of the
Tehama, and Sheriff Houssain ibn Ali Hyder, whose
influence was supported solely by his holy character
as a Syud of the Aschaaffee tribe.
<f Through the machinations of one Hadj Yusef,
a wealthy merchant yet residing at Hodeida, Sheriff
Houssain was left in charge of the seaport towns on
the withdrawal of the Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. 's troops. A promise
was made through Hadj Yusef of a certain sum
annually to His Highness Mehemet Ali, and there
is reason to believe that a large amount was paid
into the Egyptian Treasury; but no sooner did the
wily Chief find himself strong enough to stand alone-
than he at once declared himself independent, and,
not satisfied with requiring the submission of the
Imaum of Senna, was insolent enough to require
the British to relinquish Aden, or to profess the
Mahomedan faith, on pain of extermination.
"Flushed with success, this Chief, in 1840, had
the presumption to cut down the English flagstaff
at Mocha and to treat it with the greatest indignity,
issuing at the same time an edict that no Christian
should be allowed to ride in or near Mocha, and
confining the ingress and egress to one gate.