'Precis Containing Information in regard to the First Connection of the Hon'ble East India Company with Turkish Arabia, as far as the Same Can Be Traced from the Records of the Bombay Government, together with the Names of the Several British Residents and Political Agents Who Have Been Stationed at Bagdad [Baghdad] and Bussorah [Basra] between A.D. 1646 and 1846, accompanied by Other Information' [‎103r] (209/226)

xxxvii ]
Arabs, finding themselves thus between two fires, panic struck fled on all
* Sic in or sides and shut themselves up, arms in
hand, in their houses till morning', when
they quitted the city in their.*
The western half o£ the city, being thus in fact taken by storm, was
completely plundered by the soldiery. The bazars were quitted and
set fire to, every house broken open, and man and woman indiscrimi
nately stript of everything. Not a few were put wantonly to death,
and all the painful consequences of such an event caused. The remain
ing inhabitants fled across the river from their plundered dwellings and
from the excited soldiery, and that half of the city is a desert of ruins.
Such is the present state of Bagdad, innocent and guilty suffered
alike, indeed the former were worst off, for the Agail, the authors of the
mischief, have escaped with comparatively little loss, but all alike
. . . curse the feeble vet tvrannical.t This
+ fern on,. feel . ng ^ ^ ^ ^
several appeals were made to our party as it passed through the
scene of action or the succeeding, that nothing was now left them but
to throw themselves on the protection of those of another faith since
those of their own had lost sight of justice and mercy.
The Agail fled, part, it is said, to the Anezah, part to Jerbah, entreat
ing for assistance to regain their lost position. But the Anezah have
refused to interfere, and we learn, moreover, that disunion is prevailing
among them probably from the same causes as those that dissolved the
confederacy of the Jerbah—deficiency of pasturage and discontent at
short success, so that hopes are entertained that Bagdad may in no long
time be freed from its present blockade. In the mean time Salymaun
Ghunnam and the Zobeid Sheik have arrived when their services, like those
of the Anezah, had been rendered unnecessary by the unusual success of
the troops. It remains to be seen how the Pacha will settle with them;
but as their power is comparatively small, the consequences of disap
pointing them will be less perplexing than the former.
It must be obvious that with such a Government can be contemp
lated no good circumstances of the Pachalic; on the contrary, unless
some change is speedy, what can be anticipated but the total loss of the
Pachalic to the Porte, and its passing into the complete and acknow
ledged possession of the Arab tribes, who may even now be considered
as its actual owners.
It is indeed most surprizing that a consummation so apparently
inevitable should have been so long delayed, but it would seem as if a
fall still hung around the ruined image of that power, which the wild
and roving Arab once beheld with reverence as the most august on earth,
both in a religious and political point of view, and which he still hesi
tates to violate. This is something too moderate to be attributed to
the influence of Bedouin habits which are strongly opposed to a resi
dence in towns. They never (except in the case of the Agail) enter
Bagdad willingly, and seldom pass a night within its walls. But the
force of those influences is fast decreasing; like tribes of Arabs have
long been hovering round the city and seat of Government, approaching