IOR/L/PS/20/CA9

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 year 1869. The letters are dated December 1868-December 1869. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:

• Abstracts of Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
• Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Aden
• Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
• Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar
• Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire [Bushehr]
• Abstracts of Letters received from Muscat and Aden
• Abstracts of Letters received from Muscat
• Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
• Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Muscat
• Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire, Muscat and Aden
• Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Bushire.

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 covers issues including:

• Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
• Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
• Food shortages
• Public works, including railways, roads, irrigation, and harbours
• Banking and finance
• Telegraphy
• Cholera outbreaks
• Issues concerning Princely States, including: allowances; debt; succession; internal administration; and the slave trade in Kutch
• Legal issues, including the question of British jurisdiction in occupied Bassadore [Basa’idu] arising from the case of a murder committed by a British subject
• Land issues, including the cultivation of cash crops such as cinchona, indigo, and tea, and the sale of ‘waste lands’
• Issues around emigration from India to British and French colonies
• Military affairs, including the reorganisation, accommodation, and supply of military units
• Frontier policy and relations with tribes on the Northwest and Northeast Frontiers; in particular frontier raids and retaliatory expeditions, including the destruction and pillage by British forces of Shahtoot [Shahtut] village on the Northwest Frontier
• The Russian advance in Central Asia; related discussions around British policy in the Northwest Frontier, Cabul [Kabul], and Persia [Iran]; and restrictions on trade from India to Central Asia
• Communications and trade with Ladakh and Cashmere [Kashmir] and on to Central Asia
• Affairs in Affghanistan [Afghanistan], including challenges to the rule of the Ameer Shere Ali [Amīr Shīr ‘Alī Khān], internal reforms, a meeting between the Ameer Shere Ali and the Viceroy of India in Umballa [Ambala], and the presence of rival Sirdars [Sardārs, noblemen] in India
• Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, including: relations with neighbouring polities, including Lahej [Laḥij Sultanate], Fodthlee [Faḍlī Sultanate], Houshebi [Ḥawshabī Sultanate], and Maculla [Mukalla]; water supply to Aden; the purchase of Little Aden; and attempted French inroads in the area
• Civil conflict in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, in particular the capture of Muscat by Azan-bin-Ghes Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd], the consolidation of and challenges to the rule of Azan-bin-Ghes; the effect of the change in regime on the lease of Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ‘Abbas]; a conflict between Muscat and the Wahabees [Waḥabī movement] at Bereymee [Al Buraymi]; and debates around British policy in the country
• Affairs in the Persian Gulf, including an attack by Shargah [Sharjah] on Rasul-Khyma [Ra’s al-Khaymah] and civil conflict in Bahrein [Bahrain]
• Relations with Persia, including: Persian objections to British actions in Bahrein; trade restrictions in the Gulf ports; frontier disputes around Khelat [Kalat], Seistan [Sistan], and Mekran [Makran] and the need to determine the eastern border of Persia; and the opium trade between Persia and China
• Affairs in Zanzibar, including: the slave trade; the issue of subsidy payments to Muscat; and the Sultan of Zanzibar’s reaction to events in Muscat
• Affairs in East Africa, including the proposed occupation of Asab [Assab] Bay, French activity on Mohilla [Mohéli], affairs in Abyssinia [Ethiopia], and relations with Somali tribes
• Affairs in Burmah [Burma/Myanmar], Siam [Thailand], Nipal [Nepal], and Bhootan [Bhutan]
• The annexation of the Nicobar Islands.

The primary correspondents are:

• The Government of India
• The Viceroy and Governor-General of India
• The Resident at Aden
• The Political Resident in the Persian Gulf
• The Political Agent in Muscat
• The Political Agent in Zanzibar.