In a letter which General Baird addressed to Lord Wellesley from Mocha, on the 26th of April,

he says,

"When I was at Bombay, Governor Duncan informed me of the very high expectations he had from the abilities and exertions of Mehedi Ali Khan in the present service, and recommended him to me in the strongest manner. On my arrival, the Khan came on board and explained his reasons for not wishing to proceed to Jeddah; since which I have had several conversations with him, and being convinced that every possible effort should be made to bring over the Sheriff of Mecca to our interest, or at least to be on friendly terms with us, I have with some difficulty prevailed upon Mehedi Ali to accompany me.

"From the present disposition of the Sheriff of Mecca towards the British cause, no assistance is to be expected from Jeddah. I am given to understand that he has positively forbidden the pilots along the coast to carry any of our ships into that port; and a number of Dhows from this, with horses and forage for the army, are detained at

about N. by W. half W. true bearing, distant thirteen and a-half leagues. By the mean of many observations selected from the journals of several intelligent commanders employed in the expedition, Mocha is in lat. 13° 20′ N., long. 43° 20′ E., corresponding exactly with Sir Home Popham's observations, and those made by Captain Charles Court during his survey of the Red Sea; the variation in the road in 1799 was 9° W. -HORSBURGH.

Hodeida on that account. It is also reported here that Admiral Blankett has had some disagreement with the sheriff. I have, however, to hope, that through the good offices of Mehedi Ali Khan we shall yet be able to procure some assistance from him.

"Your excellency is to be apprized, that at this moment there is not one camel with any part of the army, and should those which Ali Khan has commissioned from this country not leave Mocha prior to the 20th of May, there is every reason to believe, that from the lateness of the season they will not reach Kosseir in time to be of any use to the army. It is also to be presumed, from the influence of the French, that the Arabs in the neighbourhood of Kosseir will be hostile to our cause, and that camels there, will not be procurable at any rate.

"From these circumstances it follows that no movement of the army (in the event of the capture of Kosseir) can be possibly undertaken for a considerable lapse of time, unless the enemy have met with a check in Lower Egypt, and the communication is opened with some of the native Beys, the Turkish, or Sir Ralph Abercrombie's

army.

"Of the total impossibility of an army attempting to march across the desert from Kosseir to Ghenna, a distance of 120 miles, without the requisite number of camels, your excellency must be fully aware; and I beg leave to enclose an

estimate of the probable number of camels sufficient to enable an army of four thousand fighting men, and a thousand Lascars as followers, to perform the above march in twelve days."

It appears by the despatch from which these paragraphs are extracts, that General Baird had been compelled to relinquish all hope of reaching Suez by sea, in consequence of the lateness of the season; indeed he had great apprehensions that he should not be able to procure means of conveyance either from the Arabian coast or in Egypt itself, so as to enable him to carry into effect the great object of his expedition, that of creating a diversion in favour of the combined English and Turkish forces, in which case he was prepared, in accordance with Lord Wellesley's instructions, to advise with Admiral Rainier and Colonel Wellesley as soon as they should arrive, upon the most eligible plans of future operations.

The information which General Baird received from Colonel Murray, who had preceded him, and from other sources, was extremely vague and contradictory. It was stated by some, that the French had evacuated Suez and Cairo, but the general prudently resolved to wait until he either met, or could again communicate with Colonel Murray or Admiral Blankett, before he gave credence to any of the numerous reports which were in circulation, or decided upon the measures which those reports were calculated to influence.

At Mocha General Baird was well received by

the Dola; he had an audience immediately after his arrival, and the Dola promised to afford him every assistance in his power; to him he also delivered some presents, and left others in the charge of Mr. Pringle, to be delivered to the Imaum of Sana, and the Sultaun of Aden, refreshing the good intentions of the sub-Dola of Mocha, (who was very much respected there, and whose assistance he considered likely to be very valuable,) with a present of five hundred rupees; gratifying also the harbour-master with a purse of three hundred, of which the general anticipated the beneficial effects in the expedition with which, under the inspection of that officer, the transports might get their water on board.

The immediate negotiation which was to conciliate the Arab chiefs, was one of the strong points of Lord Wellesley's policy in the outset of the expedition, and he accordingly wrote to the Sultaun of Aden, to the Imaum of Sana, to the Imaum's eldest son, to his first Vizier, to the Governor of Mocha, to the Sheriff of Mecca, to the first Vizier of the Sheriff of Mecca, and to the Vizier of Jeddah.

These letters, as shewing the political objects and character of the expedition itself, will be interesting to the reader; we therefore insert them, together with the proclamation with which Lord Wellesley accompanied them. The following was addressed to the Sheriff, the Imaum, and the Sultaun.

To the SHERIFF OF MECCA,

IMAUM OF SANA,

SULTAUN OF ADEN.

(Written 19th March, 1801.)

THE friendship and harmony which, during a long course of years, has firmly subsisted between the Sublime Porte and his Britannic Majesty is well known to you. That friendship has been still more closely cemented by the faithless conduct of the French towards the Ottoman Porte; the French are now become the common enemy of both states. That perfidious people, disregarding all the obligations of friendship and the stipulations of treaties, has sent forth its armies to invade the peaceful provinces of Egypt, the acknowledged territory of the Ottoman Porte. Without urging the slightest pretext to justify this outrage, but, on the contrary, professing sentiments of perfect friendship and regard, these disturbers of the peace of nations have carried war and desolation into the most fruitful provinces of the empire, the venerated sanctuary of the Mahomedan faith. They have attempted to establish their authority upon the ruins of your religion. They have now unequivocally declared their resolution to maintain by force what they have acquired by the violation of every principle of public faith, and of every maxim of civil and religious obligation.

I entertain too high an opinion of your attachment to the interests and independence of the parent state, and of your zeal for the support of the religion which you revere, to believe that you can have witnessed without indignation and alarm this unexampled instance of the inordinate ambition and perfidious conduct of the French nation.

I am persuaded you cannot view with unconcern, the ambitious and encroaching spirit of the French nation,