File 3939/1926 Pt 3 'Publications: Revision of Aitchison's Treaties: Aden and Arabia Sections.' [‎60r] (113/410)

34
ADEN— Yemen.
Mokha was taken, and shortly afterwards a public apology was made for
the indignity offered to the British Government and a Treaty (No.
LXXVI) was signed by the Imam of Sanaa til'd his Council, in 1821,
defining the rights to be enjoyed by British subjects, and reducing the
export duty on goods to 21 per cent. This treaty was carelessly framed
and it was afterwards discovered that serious discrepancies existed
between the English and Arabic versions. The Imam refused to accept
any modification of the latter. "(To preserve friendly relations, the
British Government yielded every point, except a clause in the English
version of the 6th article, stipulating that the servants of the factory An East India Company trading post.
should be amenable only to the jurisdiction of the Resident This was
altogether omitted in the Arabic version. The Imam was informed that
all other points were conceded, but that, if he attempted to seize or
nunish any person, of whatever nation, in the exclusive employment of
the Resident, the Resident would withdraw, and such further measures
would be adopted as might seem expedient to the British Government.
For many years the country of Sanaa was in a state of absolute
anarchv In 1832 Mokha and all the sea-coast fell under the suzerainty of
the Turks: and when, in 1840, a Commercial Treaty (No. LXXV1I) was
concluded with Shariff Hussain bin Ali, Governor of Mokha, by Captain
Moresby, it became a matter of doubt whether the Governor had any right
to conclude a treaty as a principal. Moreover, some of its provisions
were not approved by the British Government, and others were not ob
served by the Shariff. The matter was referred to Constantinople, where
the dispute was amicably adjusted; but the treaty was never ratified. All
Mansur] who succeeded his father as Imam of Sanaa, in 1834, deposed
three y^ars after. He again succeeded to power in 1844, on the death
of his uncle, only to be once more deposed in 1845 by Muhammad a y ,
a distant relative of the family. Mokha and the coast, w ^^ ad b “"
recovered by the Imam from the Turks for a time, were l^J
1848. Muhammad Yahya, in 1849, swore allegiance to the Por * a ’ a
agreed to hold Sanaa as a vassal of the Sultan, paying to him half he
revenues and receiving a Turkish garrison in h.s capital. This
the inhabitants that they rose against the Turks massacred them and
reinstated Ali Mansur, yrho ordered Muhammad Y»hya £ be pu
death. Within a few months Imam All Mansur fell into the hands
of Ghalib the son of Muhammad Yahya, who contented himself wi
raw*-
s f«
he was recalled and reinstated in the government with the title of A
Hadi but with merely nominal power. During the internal revolut
fn Sanaa and the desultory warfare with the Turks, the Imams repeatedly