Whereas "The Church of England quarterly review" (1858) suggested there could be a vague connection to the British repression of the Indian Rebellion of 1857–1859, and "The Spectator" wrote that "A Sheik from Delhi is said to have instigated the massacre", the "Perth Gazette" of October 22, 1858 extensively quoted an interview in the "Moniteur" of M. Emerat, the French dragoman (interpreter) and chancellor. According to him, the events were provoked by a commercial dispute which ended by the rehoisting of the British flag on an Indian ship and the hauling down of the Ottoman one, which provoked a riot. He added that the "agitators" actually resented the presence of non-Muslims "whose presence, in their eyes, defiled the sacred soil of the Hejaz".