IOR/L/PS/9/24

The volume consists of despatches tothe Duke of Argyll, Secretary of State for India, from Edward Charles Ross, PoliticalResident in the Persian Gulf, dated 10 January-25 June 1874. The despatches containenclosures consisting of correspondence sent and received by the PoliticalResident, dated 20 October 1873-15 June 1874.

Much of the volume relates to the rule of SyedToorkee [Turkī bin Sayyid Āl Bū Sa‘īd, spelt various ways in the volume], asSultan of Muscat, including:

• A serious illness that threatened the life of Syed Toorkee, and his gradual recovery
• An attack on Muttra [Matrah], and plans for an attack on Muscat, by Sheikh Saleh ben Ali al Harithee [Shaikh Ṣāliḥ bin ‘Alī al-Ḥārithī], presumed to be acting on a false report of the Sultan’s death
• A peace agreement between Syed Toorkee and Saleh ben Ali, the terms of which Ross describes as ‘humiliating to the Sultan’
• Saleh ben Ali’s refusal to pay reparations for British property plundered during his occupation of Muttra
• The arrival at Kishm [Qeshm] of Syed Toorkee’s nephew, and former Sultan of Muscat, Salim bin Thoweynee [Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa‘īd], with a request to Syed Toorkee for permission to settle there and a promise not to cause any trouble
• British attempts to extract reparations from Ibrahim bin Kais [Ibrāhīm bin Qays, also spelled Gheis in the volume], brother of the former Sultan of Muscat Azzan bin Kais [‘Azzān bin Qays], and from the Yal Saad [Yāl Sa‘d] tribe, for British losses during their attack on Mesnaah [Al Masna’ah]
• An attack by the Yal Saad on Soweik [As Suwayq], and their demand that the Sultan remove the Wali of Soweik
• The return to Muscat of Syed Toorkee’s brother Abdul Azeez [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin Sayyid Āl Bū Sa‘īd] to assist in government, and an agreement between the brothers on the terms of his return.

Other topics covered in the correspondence include:

• An accusation from Turkish [Ottoman] authorities that a Bahraini boat was attacked and sunk by a British ship while supplying water to a Turkish ship moored at Bahrain, and British denials of there being any truth in the accusation
• Events following the deposition of Abdullah ben Feysul [‘Abdullāh bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] as Emir of Nejd [Najd] by his brother Saood [Sa‘ūd bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], including the movements of both brothers and a possible return to hostilities
• Turkish consolidation of their rule over parts of the Gulf coast of the Arabian Peninsula formerly part of Nejd and occupied in 1871, and Saood’s inability to take them back while Abdullah is still a threat
• Events in Fars, particularly cases of villages and caravans being attacked and plundered
• Efforts to suppress the trade in enslaved persons in the Gulf, and instances of enslaved persons seeking sanctuary on British ships
• A Persian [Iranian] boat, containing some British-owned cargo, that was plundered while grounded in the Shut-al-Arab [Shatt al Arab] near Fao [Al Faw]
• Arrangements for the closure of the Bushire Relief Fund, formed in response to a previous famine in Bushire [Bushehr], and the proposed transfer of the bulk of the remaining funds to assist with relieving the famine in Bengal
• A visit to Bahrain by some of the leading inhabitants of Guttur [Qatar] resulting in an agreement to settle outstanding claims between the people of Bahrain and Guttur via arbitration
• An attack upon a merchant ship from Cutch [Kutch] while moored at the Kooria Mooria [Khuriya Muriya] Islands by a group of forty to forty-five men who plundered the cargo and took five of the crew captive, and subsequent efforts to locate the perpetrators
• Hostilities between the Rulers of Shargah [Sharjah] and Debai [Dubai]
• British complaints about the tax called Rahdaree [rahdari] being levied on British merchants in the interior of Persia
• Movements of Royal Navy ships in the Gulf and Indian Ocean.

As well as the Political Resident, theprimary correspondents are: Syed Toorkee; Esau ben Ali [‘Īsá bin ‘Alī ĀlKhalīfah], Ruler of Bahrain; Salim bin Thoweynee; Abdul Azeez; Ibrahim binKais; Saleh ben Ali; the Foreign Minister of Persia; the British Minister inTehran; the Political Resident, Aden; the Assistant Political Resident in thePersian Gulf; the Political Agent, Muscat; the Political Agent, Turkish Arabia[Ottoman Iraq]; the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf; the Native Agent,Lingah [Bandar e-Lengeh]; the Native Agent, Shargah; the Native Agent, Shiraz;the news writers at Bahrain and Bushire; Gray Paul & Co; Mcgill Jowell& Co; the Famine Relief Committee; and the Government of Bombay.

There is a single folio in French, folio 304, acopy of a letter from the Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire to the BritishChargé d’Affaires, Constantinople [Istanbul].