IOR/L/PS/20/CA6

Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the India Office from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the years 1865-66. The letters are dated 8 November 1865-28 November 1866. The abstracts are numbered 1-111 and each have one of the following titles:

• Abstracts of Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Secret Letters received from the (Political) Resident at Aden
• Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from the Assistant Resident at Aden.

Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence included in the volume concerns events in British India, Oman, Aden, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the coast of East Africa, and covers the following subjects:

• Revenue and expenditure
• Public works and transportation, including railways, roads, schools, canals, museums, ports, and jails
• Pay, pensions, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
• Communications, including postal services and telegraph networks
• Cultivation of cotton
• Reform of the administration of Kattywar [Kathiawar]
• Proposed reduction of the European army in British India
• Language qualification requirements for officers in the Indian Army
• Poor morale in the British Indian Army following the Indian Revolt
• Famine in Bengal and Madras, and Government efforts to improve conditions
• Disposal and re-use of captured and damaged weapons
• Purchase of ships for Government of India use
• Importation of horses from England to improve Indian Army’s breeding stock
• Vaccination programmes in Bombay and Madras
• Proceedings of Indian courts, including judgements issued by High Courts
• Alleged mismanagement at the Bank of Bombay, and debate regarding Government oversight of the Bank’s activities
• The foreign relations of the Government of India, including with Bootan [Bhutan], Persia [Iran], Khotan [Hotan], Affghanistan [Afghanistan], Abyssinia [Ethiopia], Zanzibar, Muscat, Turkey [Ottoman Empire], and Acheen [Aceh, Indonesia]
• Events in the Princely States, including successions, adoptions, the establishment of regencies, and warnings to rulers regarding mismanagement
• Border disturbances on the North-West Frontier, and British military expeditions in response
• Civil war in Affghanistan
• A diplomatic mission to the Emperor of Abyssinia and negotiations for the release of European prisoners
• Visit of the Sultan of Zanzibar to Bombay
• Rebellion against the King of Burma [also known today as Myanmar] led by his sons at Mandalay
• Reported ‘cruelties’ carried out by Turkish Government authorities against Indian pilgrims in Mecca
• Dutch activity in Assahan [Asahan], Siam [Thailand], and Acheen [Aceh]
• Russian activity in Bokhara [Emirate of Bukhara], including the capture of Samarcund [Samarkand]
• British financial and military support for the Sultan of Muscat against Wahabee [Wahhābī] neighbours
• Events in Muscat and Oman, including: the death of the Sultan of Muscat Syud Thoweynee [Sayyid Thuwaynī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] and allegations that this death occurred on the orders of his son, Syud Salim [Sayyid Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; refusal by the British to recognize Syud Salim as Sultan; and the seizure of Muscat’s ‘principal fort’ by Syud Salim’s uncle, Syud Torkee [Sayyid Turkī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd]
• Raiding by and military expeditions against the Foodlee [Faḍlī] tribe, including the British destruction of the village of Shugra [Shukrah]
• Proposed recruitment of an Arab cavalry force at Aden
• Construction of defensive structures at Aden
• British naval bombardment of Wahabee coastal forts
• British attacks on Soor [Sur], Katiff [Al Qatif] and Fort Damaum [Dammam]
• Appointment of additional assistants to the Persian Gulf Political Staff
• Anti-slavery actions by British vessels near Zanzibar
• Use of slave labour by British firms in Zanzibar
• Rumours of survivors from the shipwrecked vessel St Abbs, and efforts by the Political Agent at Zanzibar to locate them in Somalia.

A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 340-351.

The abstracts were printed and bound in London, and each one includes the following colophon: ‘LONDON: Printed by GEORGE E. EYRE and WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, Printers to the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty. For Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.’

The primary correspondents are:

• The Government of India
• The Governor-General of India
• The Government of Bombay
• The Resident at Aden
• The Political Agent at Zanzibar.