الحملة التركية إلى نجد [ظ‎‎٤‎٦‎٠] (٩٤/١٤)

This journal, named the ‘ Zora,' is published ^^^^and imprint ed
direction of a Government officer appointed especially to edit it, a nd is Pinrt ed
in Turkish and Arabic, with the expressed intention of makmg knonn the
people of this country the action of the Government.
1 T XI V x n x Tirmcpq find wardens of the country of Nejd, Bahrein
. t 16 llsts town t s ’ XW of Eiad and under the head “ country of Oman
f ‘th^Tost’oT’piad’^are eiven the names of eight towns, three of which, viz.,
SharLh Dehav and Abu Thuhi are all trucial, that is, as I understand this
&hal - S t;nm tra nLttual truce of peace under the mediation of the British
TTOVl
Indian Government. .
This direct mention of Bahrein and a portion of Oman, as appertaining to
Nejd, in a journal which can only be regarded as a Government Gazette, is an
indication of the views of (at least) the Local Government of this Province,
which, I think, justifies my want of confidence in the assurances so repeatedly
and explicitly given.
If I mistake not, the whole of the country of Oman is deemed to belong
to tlie de facto Government of Muscat, and it appears to me desnable that I be
instructed as to the views of His Excellency the Viceroy m Council as regards
this country, as it is not improbable that the (question may shortly he agitated
llPPP
Bronx my despatches to Her IMajesty s .Ambassadoi at Constantinople, of
which copies have been forwarded to you in regular course, it will have been
seen that I entertain an opinion that the difficulties to he encountered by the
Ottoman expedition are very much greater than the authorities here or at
Constantinople seem to anticipate; and I think that in the event^ of an
attempt to coerce the Arabs assembled to support Saood, utter failure is more
likely to ensue than the expected success.
But Midhut Pasha has lately informed me in conversation that he hopes to
bring about the settlement of the existing difficulties by conciliation and with
out employing force; he had previously stated as reported in my letter No. 17,
dated 24th ultimo, that he had desired the officer commanding the expedition
to remember that the sole object thereof was to support the title of Kaimakam
granted by the Porte, and had nothing to do individually with Abdullah or his
brothers.
Circumstances may he easily imagined under which, in this case, the
nominal supremacy of the Ottoman Porte over the Province of Nejd may at
least for a time he established, and it appears to me that this is the moment to
contemplate the possibility in such case of taking advantage of the occasion to
bring about a^ settlement of the long-pending question of the frontier between
Oman and Nejd, and I beg to recommend this suggestion to the consideration
of His Excellency in Council, that, should future action in the matter be
contemplated, no time may he lost wlien the opportunity may offer itself.
Tv ith reference to your telegram, I beg to he permitted to suggest, for your
consideration, that it would probably he better if, in future, any subject intended
for communication to the Governor General of this Province, he put more com-
pletely in cipher, as all telegrams received in the Telegraph Office here are open
to His Excellency, and, as has happened in this case, it may at times he ex-
tremely difficult to convey the exact purport without giving some clue to the
11 j II c I. ll o Cv •
Dated Baghdad, the 30th May 1871.
Irom—L iect-Colokai C. Herbert, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia,
lo—His Excellency Midhut Pasha, Governor General of Baghdad.
ImlJNoTTdTf Wlth • teles T ra P llic orders from Her Majesty’s Government of
ins meHon ifdp ” n f> I W the honor to inform Your Excellency that
instructions hat e been sent to Colonel Belly, Political Resident in the Persian