IOR/H/733

The papers relate to Malcolm’s diplomatic Mission in Persia [Iran] 1810 and relations with Sir Harford Jones, HM Ambassador to Persia (folios 7-148). The remainder of the volume relates to Malcolm’s activities in Central India as Political Agent to the Governor-General of India, following the Pindari, or Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-18).

Details of the volume are as follows:

Folios 7-104: Letters to Brigadier-General John Malcolm from Dr Andrew Jukes, 27 Feb-17 June 1810. Chiefly original letters from Jukes, many marked ‘Private and Confidential’. Bound chronologically with the most recent letter at the beginning of the volume.

Jukes was officially Surgeon at the Bushire Residency, Persia. However, most of these letters were written from Tehran where Jukes was gathering intelligence for Malcolm who was on his way from India to Tehran, having been sent by Lord Minto, Governor-General of India (East India Company), as Envoy Extraordinary to obtain an audience with the King of Persia [Fath-'Ali Shāh Qājār, referred to as ‘the King’ in this volume]. The letters mainly concern Jukes’s efforts to learn the intentions of the British Government’s Mission to Tehran headed by Sir Harford Jones, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Persia, regarding revised Treaty terms between Persia and Britain (in view of Malcolm’s parallel mission for East India Company), notably including news of Harford Jones’s appointment; Jukes’s cultivation of contacts at the Persian Court with ministers and messengers; monitoring of despatches from Harford Jones to the King; movements of the Persian King; the King’s views on the quarrelling between Malcolm and Harford Jones and their respective missions; Harfod Jones’s hostile reaction to Malcolm’s rival Mission and arrival at the camp of the Persian King. They also cover Persia’s diplomatic relations with France, Russia (with which Persia was at war), Britain and Turkey [Ottoman Empire]. Additional to Jukes’s letters are:

• Copy of letter to Jukes from Captain Sutherland, containing intelligence on Sir Harford Jones’s Mission and on the Prince, Abbas Mirza, [Abbās Mīrzā Qājār, Crown Prince of Persia], 28 January 1810 (folios 27-32)
• Copy of a letter from Robert Adair (British Ambassador) in Constantinople [Istanbul], to ‘His Royal Highness Abbas Meerza [Mirza] at Tabreez [Tabriz]’, 20 Feb 1810, regarding the alliance between Persia and Britain (folios 53-54)
• Copy of a letter from Jukes to one of his contacts, Captain Paisley, at Sheerauz [Shiraz], 29 March 1810 (folios 76-77)
• Translation, by Jukes, of a ‘Note from Mohumud Ali Meerza [Moḥammad 'Ali Mirzā Dowlatshāh, eldest son of the Persian King] Prince at Kermanshah to Hajee Mohumud Hoossein Khan, Ameen ud Dowlah [Hāji Muḥammad Ḥusayn Khān Isfahāni Amin al-Dawlah], received at Tehran 28 April 1810', relating to the attack on two officers who were supposed to meet Malcolm at Isfahan [Esfahān], and Persian efforts to annihilate perpetrator Kulb Ali Khan Filee [Kalb ‘Ali Khan Fili, Governor of Pusht-i Kuh] and his ‘gang of thieves’ (folios 69-70); and Jukes’s copy of his letter notifying Claudius James Rich, East India Company Resident in Bagdad [Baghdad], of the murder of the two officers, 28 April 1810 (folio 71)
• Lengthy report for Malcolm by Jukes at the Royal camp, 17 June 1810, conveying intelligence, listing the conditions stipulated by Jones upon which Malcolm may communicate with the King and reporting Harford Jones’s ‘rage’ at the prospect of Malcolm obtaining a royal audience (folios 36-44).

Folios 105-146: Letters from Sir Harford Jones to Brigadier-General John Malcolm, 14 May-16 June 1808 and 6 June-25 July 1810. Written by a secretary and signed by Sir Harford Jones; some originals by Jones.

Folios 105-106: Two letters written from Bombay, 14 May and 6 June 1808, mentioning the awkward situation of their parallel missions to Tehran.

Folios 107-144: Letters, 15 June-25 July 1810, mostly written from the ‘Royal Camp Chemen Sultanea’ [Chaman-i-Sultani], and from 4 July from Tabreez (the Persian name Tauris, is used in some letters). The letters chiefly cover Harford Jones’s (public) assertion of his superior and sovereign authority, vested by His Majesty’s Government, over Malcolm, to negotiate with the Persian King and ministers and criticising Malcolm’s ‘ill-judged and imprudent’ arrival at the Royal Camp on 15 June 1810 to obtain a royal audience (see folios 115-119 in particular); general matters and news from Tabreez [Tabriz; the Persian name 'Tauris' is used in some letters]; Harford Jones’s standing down as HM Ambassador and arrangements for escorting his replacement, Sir Gore Ouseley, when he arrives at Bushire. Includes:

• Letter to Malcolm from Thomas H Hudson, Assistant to Jones, 18 June 1810, forwarding extract of a letter to Jones, dated 27 January 1810 (received 22 May), from the latter’s Secretary, James Morier, regarding the alliance negotiations (folios 111-114)
• Documents forwarded by Jones to Malcolm in July 1810, comprising copies of letters to Jones from Marquis Wellesley, HM’s Principal Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 7 April 1810, agreeing to Jones’ request for recall to London, congratulating him on the work he has done at the Persian Court to reinforce Britain’s alliance with Persia (as insurance against Napoleon’s supposed intentions in Central Asia and India), and informing him of his replacement, Sir Gore Ouseley, who was scheduled to arrive at Bushire in mid-October 1810 (folios 124, 125 and 128); and copy of letter from Secret Committee of the East India Company to Jones, 9 April 1810, acknowledging his recall and replacement by Ouseley as Ambassador to Persia (folio 126)
• Letter from Harford Jones to courier Jaafa Ally Khan [Ja’far ‘Ali Khan, Native Agent at Shiraz], dated 31 October 1809, regarding letters to be delivered to His Excellency Meerza Shiffia [Mirza Muhammad Shafi’ Mazandarani, Sadr-i A’zam (Prime Minister)], and noting the British Government’s disapproval of what Lord Minto ‘took on himself to do towards me’ (folios 145-146).

Folios 147-148: Copy of a letter from Malcolm (recipient not stated but is probably Harford Jones), written from Meeanah, [probably Miana, Iran], 6 July 1810, regarding the appointment of Sir Gore Ouseley as Ambassador to Persia, his pleasure at being released from his role, and other minor matters.

Folios 151-152: ‘Private letters from Sir J Malcolm Vol 2 Index’ listing addressee and subject, with number (1-241) c 1817-18 (not contained in this volume).

Folio 153: ‘Private letter book No.3’ index of letters from Malcolm 1818, listing the addressee and the assigned number (1-157). Followed by a note (f 155) on the oil of spikenard presented to Malcolm by some inhabitants of Malwa as ‘the first fruits of the order established in their country’.

Folios 156-238 comprise the documents referred to in the ‘Private letter book No.3’ index: copies of Malcolm’s letters, 8 July-24 October 1818, relating to his activities in Central India as Political Agent to the Governor-General of India, (Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings). In January 1818 Malcolm was placed in military and political charge of the area roughly now known as Madhya Pradesh, India, and was responsible for visiting and establishing peace in the territory following the end of the Pindari War, or Third Anglo-Maratha War, 1817-18 (he was Brigadier-General with the Army of the Deccan during the conflict). Most letters were written from his camp at Mhow, near Indore, and a camp twenty miles south of Mundesoor [Mandsaur, in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh].

Malcolm’s letters chiefly cover (with content often repeated to different addressees):

• Treatment of defeated ruler Badjirau, [Baji Rao II, 12th and last Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, also spelled Bajee Rau, Baji Rau and Badjiraue in the volume], the terms reached, personal dealings with him, the reasoning behind his policy of leniency and privately hostile attitude towards Badjirau
• Reaction to Hastings’s criticism of Malcolm’s policy of leniency towards Badjirau and resentment at apparent insufficient praise received for his work
• Work in subduing the territory under his charge by making treaty terms with defeated or surrendering local chiefs, rajahs and rulers, including the ex-Rajah of Nagpore [Nagpur, north east Maharashtra] who escaped from British custody; the rulers of Banswarrah [Banswara] and Dongerpore [Dungarpur] [south Rajasthan]; and the rulers of Purtabghur [Pratapgarh, also spelt Partabgarh, south east central Uttar Pradesh], Holkar [Indore area, central India], and Dhar [Malwa, western Madhya Pradesh]
• Role in establishing order; maintaining the fragile peace; keeping the territory free of plunderers; dealing with potential local anti-British plots; containing minor outbreaks of hostilities; promoting economic prosperity; establishing and stationing a permanent reserve army; taxing local populations
• Personal matters including Malcolm’s military salary and allowances and his poor state of health
• Malcolm’s intentions to go to Calcutta [Kolkata] to return to Britain if not offered the Governorship of Bombay by the end of 1819 (Malcolm didn’t actually leave India until 1822)
• Various military and military personnel matters, such as appointments, recommendations and regimental matters
• A cholera morbus outbreak in the territory

The letters are copied in chronological order, however the correspondents are listed below in alphabetical order by surname.

John Adam (1779-1825), Secretary to the Supreme Government of India, East India Company, 10 August-23 October 1818 (ff 174-175, 177-182, 187-188, 223-225, 232-233)

Colonel Agnew, 11 July-5 September 1818 (ff 162-163, 185-187, 194-196)

Major Borthwick, 18 October 1818 (ff 231-232)

Lady Buckinghamshire (probably Eleanor Agnes, Countess of Buckinghamshire, 1777-1851), 19 July 1818, regarding her offer to look after Malcolm’s daughter in the event of Lady Malcolm coming to India and his recent successes in India (f 169)

‘Carnac’ (there is no further identifying information; possibly Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Baronet, 1784-1846), 3 August 1818, (ff 169-170)

William Erskine (1773-1852), Secretary of the Literary Society, Bombay, 10 July 1818, forwarding an illustrated paper on the Caves of Baug [Bagh Caves, Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh], by Captain Dangerfield of the Bombay Army surveying department (f 162)

The Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1858), then Commissioner of the Deccan, 14 July-4 October 1818 (ff 163-166, 171-174, 210-218)

Lieutenant Hansard, 8 October 1818 (ff 222-223)

Lord Hastings (Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, 1754-1826), Governor-General of India, 13 July-5 October 1818 (ff 166-168, 191-194, 218-219)

Colonel Low, 26 September and 14 October 1818 (ff 204, 227-228)

Lady Malcolm [Isabella Charlotte, 1789-1867, wife of Malcolm], 25 December 1818-26 Feb 1819 extracts of letters (f 238)

Sir Thomas Munro (1761-1827), Brigadier-General commanding the reserve division to subdue the southern territories of the Peshwa, Badjirau, 9 July 1818 (ff 160-162)

Sir C Metcalfe (possibly Charles T Metcalfe, 1785-1846, British Government Resident at Delhi), 16 July 1818, (f 168)

Sir David Ochterlony (1758-1825), Resident at Rajputana, 23 August and 29 September 1818 (ff 182-183, 205-206)

Captain James Tod (1782-1835), Political Agent in various states of western Rajputana (North West India), 11 August 1818 (ff 175-176)

Francis Warden, Member of Council, Bombay, 8 October 1818 (ff 219-222)

Marquess of Wellesley (Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, 1760-1842), 21 September-20 October 1818, notably regarding the latter’s imminent arrival as Resident at the Holkar Court and his subordination to Malcolm regarding all questions of peace or war and use of troops (folios 188-191 - note that ‘?Hastings’ mark has been entered by a different hand and crossed out next to Wellesley, 225-226, 228-231)

Duchess of Wellington (Catherine Sarah Dorothea Wellesley, 1773-1831), 24 October 1818, regarding personal and family matters (ff 234-237)

Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley, 1769-1852), 3 July-4 October 1818 (ff 156-160, 196-203, 208-209)