"مذكرة بشأن مسودّات البرقيات المتعلقة بشؤون مسقط وزنزبار" [ظ‎‎٣‎٣] (٢٤/١٦)

16
“ In short, I am firmly convinced that other
arrangements must be made for the ordinary mari
time police of the Gulf, and that they must be made
immediately, unless we would risk the massacre of
the Hindoos, *. e., the bulk of the trading community
at all the ports, and the interruption, with much
loss of life and property, of the telegraph line.
“ I will not trouble you with any of the various
plans which have occurred to me for establishing
such a police, unless you wish to have them ; but
all would be less costly than the old Indian Navy,
and more effective than our present reliance on
men-of-war, which cannot remain more than a few
cool weeks in those seas.
“ We must bear in mind that this revival of
Wahabeeism is only one undulation of the great
disturbance to which most Mahomedans look forward
in this or the coining year. I need not tell you that
the mystical numbers of Daniel and the Apocalypse
are discussed in many a mosque from Zanzibar to
Bokhara, as well as in Dr. Cumming’s church, and
in Arabic and Persian pastorals to the faithful, as
well as in the Doctor’s little books, and with very
much the same results, a conviction that some con
vulsion is to shake Islam and many heretical
Christian churches about this time ; 1867 is a date
very usually given.
“ You are more in the way of hearing of these
things than I have been since leaving Sind ; but few
weeks pass without my hearing or seeing some
evidence that there is a general expectation among
Mahomedans of something going to happen, and
that, according to their information and views, they
look forward with fear or hope to what the next
year or two will bring forth.
“No one knows better than your Excellency
how these things affect a population like that on the
shores of the Gulf.
“ 28^4 March .—Since I began this letter I have
seen Colonel Pelly and the Commodore, and the
additional information they gave me has shown me
little to add to or alter in what I had previously
written.
“ But 1 was sorry to find Colonel Pelly very sore
at your criticism on his proceedings. He says he
has repeatedly, within the last two years, risked his
own life in the discharge of his duty, and to accom
plish that which is usually done by a display of,—if
not the use of,—force, and he feels keenly the im
putation of having exceeded his instructions, and
unnecessarily resorted to force when it seemed to
him that a blow, promptly and decidedly struck
against the aggressors on their peaceful neighbours,
was the best mode of keeping the peace.
“ I hope to send you his official answer in a few
days. Meantime, he must return at once. He left
‘ all standing,’ as the sailors say, and the ‘ Panta
loon’ going to the Gulf, on her way to the East
African coast, affords the only chance of sending
him up in a man-of-war, but he has neither the
health nor the inclination to remain, unless he were